


You're the only friend I need

by aestaeticism



Series: La la corgi [1]
Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: (really) slow build, Corgi Hybrid Byun Baekhyun, Explicit Language, Hybrid Characters, Insecurity!Issues, M/M, Teenager Characters, Teenager!Issues, Tiny bit of Angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-24
Updated: 2017-05-19
Packaged: 2018-10-10 01:13:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 26,337
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10425936
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aestaeticism/pseuds/aestaeticism
Summary: Chanyeol is thirteen and wants a big dog. Yep. A real dog, not a Hybrid. Instead he's stuck with corgi puppy Baekhyun.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I have a bit of an obsession for HybridAU fics -and corgi Baek- and I've finally found the courage to post one. 
> 
> It's going to a be a bit different from your usual HybridAU fic, as it starts when all the characters are teenagers and will be basically be a collection of moments that Chanyeol and Baekhyun share, and how their relationship changes through the years.  
> It's probably going to be a small series divided in either two or three parts, but we'll see how.
> 
> I hope you like it, even if it's not exactly what one would expect.
> 
> ps. English is not my first language & this fic is shamelessly unbetaed.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Of corgi hybrids and big dogs -aka, Chanyeol gets stuck with Baekhyun, but it's not as bad as he thought.

People buy hybrids because they stay small. Small and cute. Chanyeol doesn’t want a hybrid, he wants a real dog. A big, huge dog that he can brag about when he goes to school, preferably a dog that is half wolf, yes. And kind of intimidating because Chanyeol has just gotten out of that embarrassing chubby phase in his life and his limbs have started growing out of proportion, making him look like one of those inflatable dolls you can find outside supermarkets, not cool. So if at least the dog looks like he could bite someone’s face off, then maybe he’d got a chance to hang out with the cool kids. Like Jaehwan or Hongbin. 

Instead he’s stuck with Kyungsoo and Jongdae, and their D&D session every friday. Kyungsoo is obviously the dungeon master and, of course, Chanyeol has the strongest character ever, because he’s a Chaotic Neutral Barbarian. Jongdae’s Chaotic Evil Thief Wizard doesn’t count, Jongdae’s a power player. 

All of his friends, cool kids included, have hybrids. Kyungsoo got two for his 10th birthday: a puppy and a kitten hybrid that go by the names of Jongin and Sehun. Chanyeol has seen them shifted into their human forms a couple of times, Sehun more than Jongin because, as Kyungsoo says, _Nini is shy_. 

Jongdae has got a baby panther, her name is Seulgi. He got her when he went to China with his family, and he insists she’s the coolest of them all, but she’s a girl and girls are still an unknown territory to Chanyeol, so Seulgi doesn’t really count.

Hongbin and Jaehwan, instead, respectively have a doberman pup and a baby iguana, which are going to be huge and super scary when they grow up. He’s never seen their human forms, but the pictures were enough to confirm Hongbin and Jaehwan’s title as the coolest kids of their middle school. 

So, to sum up, again all of his friends have hybrids except for Chanyeol, and he doesn’t want one. Chanyeol wants a real dog because they grow fast and they’re huge after one year or so, he’s done his research. Hybrids, instead, are basically humans who can transform into animals, so they take longer to become full adults, and Chanyeol doesn’t have much time. He needs to be popular in school now otherwise his all life as a teenager will be ruined, thank you very much.

And he tries really hard, swear to god he does.

He nags and nags his mom to go to the dog shelter to get a real german shepard or whatever dog they can find that is or will grow to be Chanyeol’s height, be she refuses every single time because getting a pet is expensive, it can become a burden and Chanyeol has never been the most responsible teenager ever and a whole series of reasons that are just excuses. Chanyeol is quite sure that she just doesn’t want to be cool. 

Then his parents divorce and he ends up living with his mom and his sister in a house with a back garden, which is a lot smaller than the apartment where they used to live. He forgets about the dog and he doesn’t really pay attention to his friends’ hybrids anymore, unless it’s Sehun curling up on his lap, demanding his daily dose of scratching his back where he can’t reach. 

 

It’s a tough year, but they get through, and although Chanyeol doesn’t get the dog, he still manages not to have a completely shitty reputation at school. He’s bound to remember about the dog, though, when his mom interrupts Kyungsoo’s Dungeons and Dragons Friday session in their house basement to tell him that she’s got a marvellous idea, that they need to leave for a while and then he can be back and play that evil game they always blabber about.

He doesn’t have the chance to react nor complain, despite the fact that he’s practically wasted the 20 he's rolled and a possible critical hit, just to follow her. Jongdae snickers, Kyungsoo assures that they’re saving that last roll for when he comes back, if they’re allowed to stay.

His mom provides them with cookies and drags Chanyeol outside first, then into the car. Yoora is not even there, and his mom gives him zero explanation. Chanyeol wonders if she’s finally taking him to the dog shelter to get him the damn dog, since he kind of recognizes the road, but he can’t be sure.

He hasn’t thought about it for months, but his heart beats in trepidation at the idea of finally getting his dog, he’s so ready to show pictures of a massive dog to Jaehwan and Hongbin.

When they finally stop, he realizes they’re not that far from the hair salon where his mom works, and that she’s pointing towards a shady little shop between an empty coffee shop and a stationary store. Chanyeol’s reaction is a bit subdued, just a raised eyebrow, because that’s not what the pet shelter looks like.

“We’re getting you a hybrid. Aren’t you happy?” she chimes, unlocking the car.

Chanyeol is not happy. But his mom has been so down lately, because of his dad leaving and everything, so he doesn’t pout and resorts to smile instead, to assure her that he is indeed happy. Maybe it’s not that bad, maybe he can find something as cool as Hongbin’s dobermann or Jaehwan’s iguana.

Chanyeol can clearly remember Kyungsoo describing the shelter where he got Sehun and Jongin as elegant and quite expensive, especially because both of them are apparently pure bred. The shelter where his mom his taking him now, though, is where they sell hybrids who’ve been sent back by the families who adopted them. Chanyeol knows because he can read, and he’d stared at the sign outside of this shop long enough when he’d visited his mom at work a few months earlier, wondering if he should get a hybrid like the others, after all. 

These hybrid must be cheaper, and money has been an issue in their house recently, so he doesn’t dare to complain about that either. 

The shop is really small, but cozy, looking more like an old secondhand shop than a place where they sell hybrids. A waiting area for the customers and a second room for the hybrids are all Chanyeol can see. Everything is made out of dark wood and there’s carpets and comfy sofas, a lot of cacti and bead curtains creating pretty light reflections on the floor. There’s just a couple of people waiting for their turn, but Chanyeol’s interest is caught by the only door that connects the waiting room with the hybrids playground.

He’s a bit disappointed, because they don’t seem to have that many dogs, or that’s what he sees when he takes a peep inside. His eyes light up, though, when he notices one of the assistants walking out of the second room holding a great dane puppy. 

That would be perfect, a great dane is going to be even bigger than Hongbin’s dobermann. That’s all Chanyeol cares about, the damn size of his dog. He wants the biggest they have and, after all, his mom hasn’t given him a limit.

A great dane is perfect.

He can’t even start to be happy, though. His squeal of joy dies in his throat the second he stands up. Someone walks up from behind him, a guy that is around Chanyeol’s age, maybe a couple of years older. The guy’s just a couple of inches taller than him, but Chanyeol finds himself staring at his face, not because he’s handsome, of course not. He’s really ugly indeed, he’s stealing the dog he wanted.

Apparently the great dane’s name is Kris, or Yifan and his previous owners got him when they went to china, but he’s also lived in Canada with another family. Ugly guy likes to blabber a lot, so Chanyeol learns everything he needs to know about Kris before he can realize that he can’t have him. He can speak chinese AND english, how cool is that? Chanyeol deeply despises this Kim Junmyeon for snatching the hybrid from him. 

 

When it’s finally his turn to go into the playground, they’re only left with really young or really small types of dog hybrids. Chanyeol is way beyond disappointed now.

The playground is just another room like the previous one, two sofas one facing the other with a small table in between, next to the window with more beaded curtains -these look a bit more battered than the ones outside. There’s a couple of rabbit hybrids, one hopping towards a corner of the room where a tortoise hybrid is napping, next to a plant. The other already on the sofa, between two pillows. The kitten hybrids seem to be the majority, all really small and really young except for a couple that are definitely adults already. 

There’ a few more animals, a pomeranian pup and a hedgehog hybrid. All of them in their animal form, which Chanyeol assume it’s what they’re most comfortable in.

The assistant is standing next to Chanyeol, and he doesn’t look older than twenty. He’s got only one hybrid at home, he explains, and he’s a wolf hybrid, so he can’t really take him to work. 

Chanyeol grows even more restless, because he wants a wolf hybrid too now.

“Your mother suggested you get a Hybrid who’s around your age, so he can hang out with you and your friends. So unfortunately I think Baekhyun and Jiho are the only options we have here, unless you want to come back next week and check.”

The two Hybrids raise their heads simultaneously, and Chanyeol evaluates them, attentively. “I said I wanted a dog though. One of them is a cat..?” The cat hybrid’s ears twitch, as if he’s overhearing their conversation. He’s a red cat, a bit bigger than the other kittens and he must be a street cat, considering how Chanyeol has gotten used to Sehun’s being the cat version of the adjective ‘pretty’ -he’s a russian blue, what do you expect.

“Jiho is a cat, but your mother wasn’t specific on the type of Hybrid you wanted. But if you wanted a dog Baekhyun is a corgi, he’s cute.” The assistant smiles and points at the grumpy corgi puppy in the corner, isolated from the rest of the small dogs.

If that wasn’t impossible, since it’s the first time Chanyeol even sees this hybrid, he would be pretty sure that the corgi is glaring at him. Death glare.

“I don’t know, I wanted something..bigger? Like the one you just gave away.”

The death glare intensifies and the corgi puppy lowers his head -his ears drooping a bit- until he’s lying down, his eyes closed in complete disinterest.

“Oh, you mean Kris. Junmyeon has been coming to see him everyday for a month before he could afford him, I wouldn’t have given Kris to anyone else, they clicked pretty well.”

Chanyeol sighs, eyeing the corgi puppy once more. “I guess I’m stuck with him then?”

“Well, I’m not giving him to you if you don’t want him. Baekhyun is stubborn, he wouldn’t want to come with you if he knew you wanted a different Hybrid.” He pauses, and he seems to take a better look at the corgi. “Well, nobody would want to.”

“Can I think about it?” The guy is right, it’s not fair for the hybrid he gets if he doesn’t really want him. Maybe he can ask his mom to try another pet shop. 

He really does want a bigger dog.

“You can come see him whenever you want, but I don’t know how longer he’ll be here. He’s a corgi, they sell pretty fast. He got here two days ago, he still doesn’t like that they’ve sent him back.”

Chanyeol is young, but he can clearly detect the hint of pity in the assistant’s tone. He’s not sure he likes it and the corgi for sure doesn’t, he turns around giving his back, well, his fluffy butt to them.

 

When Chanyeol goes home Kyungsoo and Jongdae are playing videogames and they haven’t saved that 20 for him. They just stopped their weekly session to do something else, announcement to which Chanyeol get even more disappointed.

“Oh, you didn’t get the pup then?” Kyungsoo is sitting on the floor, his back against the mattress. “I thought you liked dog hybrids, you love Nini.”

“Nini is growing to be quite big. To be honest I didn’t even want a Hybrid, I wanted a dog. But if I have to choose a hybrid a wouldn’t get a stupid corgi.” He argues back, as Kyungsoo’s Nina beats the shit out of his Eddy. Chanyeol reminds himself once more he shouldn’t play Tekken against Kyungsoo.

“Corgis are cute.” 

“You have him then, ‘Dae.” Chanyeol’s character dies, and he throws the controller towards Jongdae who’s lying on his bed, on his belly.

“I can’t, Seulgi would kill him. Then kill me while I’m sleeping with her ninja panther moves or something.” He chuckles.

“I think you should give him a try, you know. Maybe you’re just obsessed with big dogs. And corgis are not that small to be precise, they’re just short.” Kyungsoo says, and Chanyeol frowns. He doesn’t like when Jongdae and Kyungsoo team up to make him realize he’s been wrong the whole time.

“I don’t know what’s worse.” He mumbles, as he refuses to lose, but he does think about the corgi even while Jongdae beats Kyungsoo for three consecutive rounds. Chanyeol decides that it’s Jongdae the one he should fear the most.

 

Chanyeol can’t sleep that night, and he’s back at the pet shop early in the morning although it’s a weekend and his mom doesn’t want to take him there. The assistant is the same as the previous day, and he doesn’t go in with Chanyeol when he’s let into the playground. 

He doesn’t look at the other hybrids, although there’s one giant parrot hybrid that’s really interesting, he or she must have arrived the day before after Chanyeol had left. He ignores it, as he beelines til he’s crouching in front of a sleeping corgi, all wrapped into a green blanket. It looks old, maybe it’s not even from this shelter, maybe is from the place where the hybrid grew up, Chanyeol is not sure.

The corgi gives no signs of waking up, eyes closed and one of his ears down. The absence of the death glare makes the middle schooler just a bit more brave than usual, and Chanyeol finds himself reaching out for the hybrid’s back and strokes there, gently, a couple of times. 

He’s warm, soft, and his heart beats faster than Chanyeol had expected to. He strokes down all the way down to his tail until and he can feel the puppy shiver and curl up some more with a low whine. 

Chanyeol wants the be the coolest kid in the neighborhood, in the world if he can manage, but he definitely can’t resist that whine. It doesn’t really matter how big the hybrid is, does it? He tries to think about how much he likes petting Sehun and how his ears twitch when he touches them even in human form. Sehun is quite tall for his age, but his kitten form is tiny, and he’ll never grow to be as big as a Maine Coon hybrid. And Kyungsoo doesn’t care.

Chanyeol doesn’t care either. Maybe Kyungsoo is right, and he’s just obsessed with big dogs. He grazes Baekhyun’s muzzle with the back of his finger and the corgi nibs at it in his sleep. So he comes to a decision.

 

“I’m getting the cor-Baekhyun.”

“That was fast.” The assistant raises an eyebrow at him while he’s petting a black rabbit hybrid, behind the counter at the entrance. “Are you sure? You can still come back and see if we have something else.”

Chanyeol grips at the counter, tiptoeing because he hasn’t completely gone past his short phase yet. “No, it’s ok. Can I have him please?” 

“He heard you say you wanted a bigger dog, he’ll probably be upset though.” The middle schooler bites his tongue and throws a look towards the playground’s glass door, spotting Baekhyun in a corner, still fast asleep in his green blanket.

“Can’t we try anyway?” He begs. “Can’t you ask him? My friends have hybrids as well, I’m sure he can be friends with them and play.” 

The assistant stares at Chanyeol like aliens have kidnapped and replaced him with a copy of himself. Chanyeol stares back, and like the thirteen years old teenager he is, he tries one more time. “Please?”

When the assistant comes out again, he’s not followed by a sleepy corgi pup but a sleepy human pup wearing an oversized white t-shirt and a pair of sweatpants. Baekhyun, like Sehun, has still got corgi ears in human form. They’re cute, one is folded down, the other perked up. Chanyeol doesn’t see his tail, but he’s pretty sure it’s hiding somewhere under that t-shirt. 

He must be around Chanyeol’s age, black hair, black eyes and a fringe that prickles his droopy eyes because he keeps brushing it away. “Hi.”

His voice hasn’t changed yet, and he’s quite short. Definitely shorter than Chanyeol, closer to Kyungsoo and Jongdae.  
“Chanyeol, this is Baekhyun. He turned thirteen last may. Baekhyun, this is Chanyeol, he’s the same age as you. He likes dogs.” The assistant is smiling, but Chanyeol can see the small crease between the hybrid’s eyes.

“Why does he want to buy me then? I’m a hybrid. And he said he wanted something bigger. I don’t want to be sent back again.” 

“I won’t send you back! I mean it’s true that I wanted a bigger dog, but I changed my mind, I promise.”

Baekhyun doesn’t reply, he glances to the assistant, suspicious. 

“My friends said I was an idiot because I told them I wanted a dog, and not a hybrid. And then I said I wanted a bigger hybrid and I was rude. I’m sorry.” He looks at the floor, his hands in his jeans pockets. “I won’t send you back. My mom is not the best cook but my ramen is ok. And my sister would like you a lot.”

“What do you say, ‘Hyun?” The assistant looks at the hybrid expectantly, then Baekhyun shrugs, apparently unfazed.

“Whatever.” He says. “Do you want me to change back then?”

Chanyeol is a bit taken aback by Baekhyun’s behaviour. He thought puppy hybrids were supposed to be really loving and playful, but Baekhyun looks.. bored. And kind of not happy to go with Chanyeol at all.

“Uhm, what do you prefer?”

“I’ll be right back then.” He disappears behind a smaller door that Chanyeol hadn’t noticed, and if he’s at least one tiny bit excited about getting a new owner he doesn’t show it.

Or maybe Chanyeol is too busy thinking about how he can fix this to notice.

“He’s still upset about being sent back, I think. He’s usually a lot brighter than he was just now.” The assistant explains, and it looks like he’s apologizing for Baekhyun. Chanyeol thinks he’s brought it on himself after all.

 

They leave after a while.

Chanyeol is still surprised because all of Baekhyun belongings fit into a normal school backpack, his school uniform included. He doesn’t have much, and Chanyeol is not sure how much they’re allowed to own where they live before being adopted.

Also, Baekhyun could walk beside him just fine, to be honest, but Chanyeol had decided that he wanted to pick up and carry him all the way back him from the second he’d come out of the other room, trying, puppy size and all, to drag -biting on it- the same backpack that the middle schooler is carrying now.

Despite the expectations, considering his behaviour as a human, Baekhyun keeps wagging his tail, although he doesn’t lick Chanyeol’s fingers like Sehun does when he scratches behind his ears. It’s going to be a long road for Baekhyun to trust him, and Chanyeol wants to make sure he does.

 

Saying that Yura likes Baekhyun would be an understatement. She loves him the second Chanyeol puts him down at the entrance and he moves his first steps into his new home. She pets him, strokes his ears and scratches on that spot behind his tail that he wouldn’t normally reach with his paws. Baekhyun beams, then rolls on his back so Yura can give him a full belly rub. 

Chanyeol almost regrets showing him to his sister in the first place.

“He’s my hybrid, could you please not? Get your own.” Chanyeol is thirteen and he’s a possessive little shit, especially because he’s grown up with his sister bullying him constantly.

“But he’s cute! Right fluffball?”

“The name’s Baekhyun.”

Baekhyun doesn’t give a shit. He keeps wagging his tail happily, he even reaches out to nib at Yura’s hands when she catches his snout between her fingers and pulls, playfully. 

Chanyeol is jealous of a dog and despises his sister. And his hybrid. Kind of. It’s been a couple of hours since he’s has gotten his corgi and he’s already learned how much of a cuddle whore he is. 

 

Chanyeol’s house is small, there’s barely enough space for him and Yura to have one room each, and Chanyeol’s is obviously the smaller one. He insists that Baekhyun gets a room for himself as well, for those moments when he feels like being alone in human form. Chanyeol is thirteen, a possessive little shit but he’s also kind of caring.

Baekhyun shifts, so he can introduce himself to Chanyeol’s mom and sister with his own voice, dressed with the same clothes he’d brought from the hybrid shop. (Chanyeol will later learn that he’s only got three outfits, and one of them is for school, so it doesn’t really count.) 

He also helps Chanyeol push bed in the warmest corner of the basement, and set a couple of curtains around it so that he can have some privacy. Chanyeol gives up one of his drawers, the wooden table that was sitting in the backyard will be now used as a desk and Yura comes back from a trip to the nearest op shop with a clothes rack.

Baekhyun is still a bit wary, especially around Chanyeol. He avoids his gaze and gives him curt responses, however he’s extremely friendly with Yura and her mom. Chanyeol ends up being convinced that he’s not the one that despises Baekhyun, it’s probably the other way around.

 

He also learns that Baekhyun has had pizza a total of two times in his whole life, and they want to make up for that. They end up eating it with Jongdae and Kyungsoo who run to Chanyeol’s house the second he tells them about the corgi pup, although they don’t bring their hybrids along this time, and Baekhyun doesn’t shift into his animal form for the evening.

“I think I’ll meet your hybrids at school probably.” Baekhyun is a pizza eating champion, or he’s really hungry because ends up eating half of Yura’s portion too. “Since my last family was from another province I have to change school now.” He adds, informing Chanyeol’s mom about any bureaucracy she might have to deal with. 

“I had to do the same for Seulgi. She’s half panther, I’ve had her for three years now.” Jongdae says proudly, biting into his pizza. “She’s from Korea, originally, but for some reason she ended up in China, hybrid things.”

“It can happen. Panthers are quite rare as a hybrid. Where I was born there were only two. Dogs, cats or bunnies are a lot more common. I was the only corgi though.” He sounds just as proud as Jongdae and he smiles brightly.

Mrs Lee, aka Chanyeol's mom smiles, as if she’s just remembered she’s surrounded by teenagers, and shakes her head as she asks Baekhyun a few more questions. His mom’s smile warms his heart, however Chanyeol doesn’t speak much, still butthurt by the fact that his hybrid seems to be nice to everyone except him.

“Seulgi is really cool. But no one is cooler than Nini. He’s a korean jindo hybrid, he’s got white ears when he shifts and we’ve allowed him to keep doing ballet, he’s really good at it.” Kyungsoo is the next to show off, and Chanyeol was just sure he would mention Jongin first.

“What about Sehun then?” If Chanyeol had paid a tiny bit more a attention, he would’ve noticed Baekhyun’s eyes stopping on him for a second, in a mix of confusion and disappointment.

“Sehun is not cool. He’s elegant and the best cat hybrid on the planet.”

“Sehun is cool. He can beat both of us when we play Spyro on the playstation though.” Chanyeol insists, and Kyungsoo laughs.

“True, true.”

“And he’s also played D&D with us a couple of times! He’s got a Wizard character, similar to mine, but mine’s a thief as well. Have you ever played Dungeons and Dragons ‘Hyun?” Jongdae asks, and he props his elbows on the table, as he always does when he’s overly excited about something.  
Chanyeol carefully looks at the hybrid, one cheek resting on his hand and to his surprise Baekhyun seems embarrassed as he shakes his head. “I don’t think they have D&D where he comes from, ‘Dae. I’m not even sure if they have TV.”

“We do.” Baekhyun spits out, and he’s glaring, just like he was doing in the pet shop the day before, when Chanyeol had first met him. “We have TV and Playstation as well.”

He looks away and Chanyeol frowns. He stops taking Baekhyun’s side and just gives a few sparse comment to the conversation, even when Jongdae is asking Baekhyun how excatly puppy-like he looks in his animal form, and Kyungsoo says it would be fun to see him and Jongin one next to the other. 

Baekhyun laughs a bit bitterly, evidently offended as he replies that he could bite Jongin’s ears off if he really wanted. Chanyeol doubts it, but, again, he doesn’t say anything.

His mother and sister must sense some discomfort on his part, but Chanyeol is one of those kids going through their rebel grumpy I hate everyone phase, so nobody really questions his behaviour.

 

He’s possessive, butthurt and he can also be an asshole when he decides he wants to get revenge. He stops trying to talk to Baekhyun for the rest of the evening, hiding his depression behind a cold façade as he closes the door to his room and flops on his bed.

He didn’t expect Baekhyun to like him after the episode at the pet shop, but at the same time he thought the corgi would at least warm up to him. Considering the hybrid’s actions, though, Chanyeol almost reconsiders his goal to make the other trust him.

He should have just gotten a dog, dogs don’t shift into humans, don’t talk to his friends and they’re always there to let Chanyeol pet them. Or so he thinks, he’s never had a dog, he’s got no idea. Chanyeol’s only adventure with pets is a fat hamster when he was eight. He’s not sure how it happened -Yura must have some part into it- but it disappeared one day.

So, basically Chanyeol is a newbie with pets, as much as he’s a newbie with Hybrids and a complete idiot for what concerns Baekhyun. And although it’s only been a few hours since he got him, he can tell already that he’s doing something wrong. It makes him depressed and angry at the same time.

He can hear the shower running, and wonders what would be like to give puppy Baekhyun a bath. Or if Baekhyun can run down the stairs, being so small.

Chanyeol almost falls asleep, the lights from outside creating patterns of shadow on his bed. Then a pit-a-pat of paws on the linoleum floor jolts him awake. He doesn’t move a muscle, until he can feel weight on his feet, and something settling on top of them.

He tries to wiggle them a little bit, but he stops the moment he hears a small whine in response. Thanks god it’s dark, because he’s smiling like an idiot.

Chanyeol is thirteen, he’s a teenager and he’s also a bit bipolar, because he’s already forgotten about his epic revenge plan towards the corgi hybrid. Or maybe he just doesn’t like human Baekhyun, he hasn’t decided yet. For now, he sits up and reaches out with his fingers towards the ball of fur curled up at his feet.

Baekhyun raises his head when Chanyeol finally touches him, hesitant at first, and then more confident in his actions when he strokes his back and then reaches out for his ears to tug at one of them gently.

“And we even made you a bed ” He says, keeping his voice down. He’s not expecting a reply, really, but Baekhyun makes a noise that almost sounds annoyed.

He thinks about it, as Baekhyun stares at him with the same eyes he’s got as a human, head slightly tilted to the side, just one ear up, then he comes to a decision.

“Hyun come here, it’s gonna be cold if you sleep there.”

And he lifts the blanket enough for the hybrid to crawl inside. Baekhyun is still cautious. Chanyeol can see that he doesn’t trust him yet, but doesn’t waver. “Come on? I know you don’t like me.”

He takes his sweet time, but Chanyeol almost squeals when the corgi finally leaves his spot at Chanyeol’s feet, stumbles a couple of times and finally slumps right next to his pillow. Baekhyun doesn’t retaliate when the other tries to scoot him a bit closer. He doesn’t squirm nor slip out of Chanyeol’s reach when the human starts stroking his head with his thumb and caressing his back. 

If Chanyeol could light up, like, literally, he would.

“I’m tired. You must be tired as well.”Chanyeol start rubbing his ears -they’re a tiny bit too big, but cute, and Baekhyun snuggles closer and finally relaxes. “Goodnight puppy.” He whispers and he smiles, because Baekhyun’s tail is moving on its own again.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Of school, cool graffiti and learning how to go down the stairs.

Baekhyun knows he’s lucky. He realizes he’s lucky the moment he’s allowed to sleep on Chanyeol’s bed and curl up against his shoulder, the other drowsily touching his ears and fingers buried in his fur. He’s lucky because Chanyeol is the same age as he is, he smells nice although he’s a teenager -and teenagers usually stink- and has called him _puppy_ the first night he got him. 

The thing is, Baekhyun’s personality is quite reserved originally, he doesn’t like talking about himself and his problems that much, he’s just… _shy_. He’s a shy teenager. Or he would be, if wasn’t for the fact that Baekhyun is also part corgi. And corgis are dogs, especially friendly and playful dogs. They’re wary with strangers, true, but they get attached to their owners and people surrounding them quite quickly. 

The contrasts is sometimes too harsh even for him, being this weird cocktail of independence and affection at the same time makes him wonder if he’s got a split personality or something similar. He’s thirteen, it gets him frustrated all the time how much corgi Baekhyun likes cuddling, and babies, and playing fetch. Whereas human Baekhyun just wants to be alone and pretend like he absolutely hates Chanyeol. 

No, it’s not pretending. He genuinely doesn’t like him.

Chanyeol said he wanted a big dog. A dog. Not a hybrid. And sure, he apologized after, but human Baekhyun holds grudges like the scariest of ghosts and the fact that his new owner didn’t want him at first puts him off a bit. A lot bit.

Still, he knows he’s lucky. He was made like any other hybrid in some facility at the border of the country. That’s the first thing they learn in school, when studying how human families work. They learn how Hybrids don’t have parents because they’re created in vitro, and because their future owners are supposed to become their _real_ family some day. Which had made Baekhyun extremely sad, at first. He was too young and with too little experience to really grasp the concept of familial love, but he knew that something was missing.

Still he can’t complain, the facilities where hybrids are raised can either be really bad or really good, he heard it from the first family that adopted him when he was eleven. Before that, he thought that every Hybrid Institution would be nice and happy just like the one where he grew up, but apparently he was wrong.

Also, he soon found out that some owners abuse of their Hybrids, even from a young age. And although he’s not sure what abuse means, the face his owners make when they watch the news and something like that comes up, tells him that it’s nothing good.

Chanyeol wanted a dog, Baekhyun can tell, when he wakes up to the other hugging him tighter in his sleep, his nose pressed against one of the corgi’s ears. Human Baekhyun mentally groans, because he might look like a puppy but he’s all grown up now, cuddles are for kids only. However his corgi self is also extremely happy at Chanyeol’s display of affection, even if it’s an unconscious one, he feels like his heart could explode because suddenly he _likes_ Chanyeol, he likes him a lot.

Living with a family is fun, especially with Chanyeol’s family.  
Some things are still weird, though. The bathroom thing, for example.

“Chanyeol are you done in there?” 

There’s only one bathroom in the house, and when Chanyeol decides he’s going to take forever to style his damn horrible hair, there’s no whining and scratching the door that can distract him. So here he is, wearing nothing but Chanyeol’s t-shirt, because he does have a bed, but he sleeps with Chanyeol in corgi form -and his clothes don’t shift with him of course.

“Almost done!” Chanyeol’s nasal I’m-a-teenager-my-voice-is-changing voice comes from behind the door, and Baekhyun groans, his back against it. Peeing is important, peeing is something that everyone does and although he could technically just do it as a corgi in the back garden, there’s some things he just prefers doing as a human, and that’s one of them.

“Yeol c’mon please I need the toilet. I’m gonna pee on your bed, can’t you hurry?”

He doesn’t. He comes out after five minutes, Baekhyun is seriously bursting.  
Things get even weirder when he opens the faucet to wash his hands after doing the deed and the water comes out of the shower instead. He screams in surprise, then shifts on instinct.

_Baekhyun?_

Awkward. 

Chanyeol knocks on the door a couple of times, the water is still coming out of the showerhead and Baekhyun is tangled in his t-shirt. As a corgi.

He hears the door open after that, and then Chanyeol’s laughter. 

It keeps going, for several minutes, and Chanyeol doesn’t even seem eager to close the faucet. Baekhyun is soaked, he’s going to catch a cold and die. He hears something clicking, then a buzzing sound and he realizes that Chanyeol is taking pictures. 

Baekhyun wants to get that cold and die. 

He’s even stopped trying to untangle himself from the t-shirt, he’s just waiting for Chanyeol to finally remember that he’s not a dog.

“Yeol what the hell?”

He feels someone scooping him up, then closing the faucet, he recognizes Yoora’s voice. “He’s not a dog, he’s a hybrid. And if he catches a cold it’s gonna be serious.”

“It was funny though. Look at the picture!”

“No it wasn’t, he’s drenched. Can’t you grow up a bit Park Chanyeol?”

To be completely honest, Baekhyun likes Yoora more than he likes Chanyeol.

“My brother is an idiot.” She says, while she peels the t-shirt off Baekhyun’s corgi form. She suppresses a smile, then picks up a towel from the radiator and stars drying him off. Yoora looks exactly like Chanyeol, with cuter ears and a warmer smile. She’s also older than Chanyeol, which means that it’s only been a few days and he’s already seen her bully him around.

He likes Yoora, but Chanyeol’s his real owner after all, so part of him was a bit upset when that happened. Now that she’s is drying him with a warm toasty towel, though, his wagging tail and nipping fingers mode activates. 

Also, he bares his teeth at Chanyeol when the other comes in, still laughing, with clean folded clothes that Baekhyun can change into. Chanyeol snorts, and Baekhyun goes back to play with the hem of Yoora’s skirt, ignoring him.

He sees the picture a couple of hours later, as a human, and he has to admit that he does look cute. He’s a white soaked ball on the tiled floor of the bathroom, all you can see is a tuft of fur from one side. 

 

School is also kind of weird, a good weird and a bad weird.

Chanyeol doesn’t walk him there everyday like his old family used to do and, surprisingly enough, neither do Kyungsoo and Jongdae with their hybrids. Baekhyun almost gets offended when the middle schooler leaves without him on the first day, only to realize that it would’ve been more embarrassing if he was there instead, because Jongin and Sehun are waiting for him at the end of the road.

Baekhyun likes Jongin and Sehun a lot, especially Jongin because he’s quiet and he’s a dog hybrid as well, and Baekhyun is not that comfortable with cats yet. Also, Sehun gets a lot of attention from Chanyeol, and Baekhyun is as territorial as he can be.

They’re not in the same class since Baekhyun is older than both of them, and that sucks, quite frankly. But they do join him for lunch in the cafeteria almost every day and they make him try Kyungsoo’s food, which is way better than cafeteria food. 

And who wouldn’t like free food.

Schools is just school. Wide classrooms with tall ceilings, a gym, corridors, stairs where students either flock whenever the bell rings and they’re allowed ten minutes of break, or sneak out to try their first cigarettes -and Baekhyun has bumped in a few third years doing that, so he doesn’t even find it that surprising anymore. 

His classmates are ok. School is weird, indeed. All these hybrids forced in the same building and learning the same things humans do. Except for the additional classes about Anatomy and Species Balance that Baekhyun has never heard Chanyeol mention and, well, humans don’t have heat, or problems with their dog hybrid part possibly finding a bird hybrid interesting, as a lunch option. They wouldn’t need these classes anyway.

School is also boring. They’re not allowed to shift in most classes, which is something that can make some hybrids frustrated. They’ve had Jiho, the same street-cat that was with Baekhyun at the hybrid shop, shifting all of a sudden during History class because, apparently, he hadn’t shifted for a while and his body had lost control.

Baekhyun doesn’t really have this kind of problem. Chanyeol’s family allows him to shift whenever he feels like it, and although Chanyeol did want dog-Baekhyun more than he wanted human-Baekhyun at the beginning, the hybrid tries to balance the two things out. 

“Oi Byun.” He lifts his head, trying to point out if he knows the person that’s talking to him. He doesn’t. 

“Do I know you?” 

“I heard from my owner yesterday that your guy has gone on and on for months about how he was going to get this huge dog.” 

He mimics the shape and size with his hands. He’s got a cute smile and sharp features, the skin on his neck and on his palms is a subdue green cluster of scales. “How come he got you in the end?”

“How come you know so much about my owner and I know nothing of yours?” He asks. “I guess mine isn’t that interested in him. Or you.” He shoots back, nonchalantly.

“It’s because your owner is a fat loser, that’s why.” 

Baekhyun bolts upright, his chair makes a terrible noise and the classroom is silent. Baekhyun hates trouble, but trouble seems to find a way to him somehow.

“What did you just say?”

There’s another guy behind this one, a dobermann hybrid from what Baekhyun can tell, and he’s literally just staring without saying anything. It’s kind of scary, but Baekhyun stands there, chin up, despite this guy being -just a tad- taller than him, and dobermann hybrid guy being kind of intimidating.

“You heard me. He’s fat, and he’s a loser. I met him.”

“You should know better than to mess up with someone older than you, Sanghyuk.” Yookwon’s voice is almost soothing, and he puts a hand on Baekhyun’s shoulder. It’s more to make sure he doesn’t do anything stupid than to comfort him, Baekhyun can tell.

“Still a midget though.” He snorts, and a couple more people from Baekhyun’s class snicker.

“What have I done to you exactly?” He tries to stay calm. Even though it’s just normal for him to be so upset if someone insults his owner and him, he knows he shouldn't let it get to him. 

“Nothing. It’s just fun.”

The guy shrugs, and leaves after the dobermann hybrid murmurs something to him -to just cut the crap probably. Baekhyun doesn’t know what to say to that and neither is given the chance to answer because the duo leaves soon after, and he can flop on his chair again. He hides his face between his arms, folded on the desk. He’s ready for a nap, a long nap.

He’s good at pretending that it doesn’t sting, what the guy said. But it does, and he bites his lip hard when nobody else can see.

Sunwoo nudges at his foot gently, Baekhyun pretends he’s still sleeping. He can hear the other classmates whispering, but he ignores them. He hates school.

“He shouldn’t have said those things about your owner, he’s an asshole.” He says. He waits awkwardly for a reaction for a couple of seconds, then gives up when Baekhyun keeps still.

“Cheer up Byun.” He tries, before going back to his desk.

 

School is frustrating most of the times, and thirteen year old students like to quarrel more than everything in the world. More than they like to experiment new things like first kisses and not safe for work magazines found god only knows where. Baekhyun knows, because he’s also a teenager. A smart one.

Sanghyuk and Wonsik bother him often. It’s mostly Sanghyuk, really, Wonsik is either calmer or not interesting in bothering Baekhyun, but still follows the other everyday. Sanghyuk never targets Baekhyun directly, it’s always Chanyeol, and the hybrid gets used to it after a while. He just doesn’t give them attention, and can’t be happier when he can finally go home.

He walks back with Sehun and Jongin everyday, Sehun and him doing most of the talk, as Jongin is busy trying not to stumble in a trash bin while reading and walking at the same time. 

Jongin is odd, listen to bands no one has ever heard of and reads a lot. Kyungsoo adores him, to the point where Baekhyun wonders how Sehun feels about the two of them being obviously close.

“You should tell Chanyeol about those two though.” Jongin cuts in their conversation about a new edition of the D&D manual being released soon -because of course Baekhyun has become part of the nerd club now. (And his character is stronger than Jongdae’s.)

“It doesn’t really matter.” He says, as he closes the zip of Chanyeol’s hoodie he’s been wearing over the uniform shirt for a while. It’s not allowed, and the hoodie is huge on Baekhyun, but it’s warm and smells like Chanyeol, which calms Baekhyun down.  
Plus falling asleep with his nose in it during class feels nice, safe.

“But maybe Chanyeol could help you find more material to answer back I guess. Wonsik is always the one teasing you about him anyway.”

“He’s probably gonna be upset. Chanyeol, I mean.”

“He’s not gonna be upset, Hyun, he’ll probably just be angry. And then go to school and punch the shit out of them.” Jongin says, and Sehun snorts.

“He’s not that kind of guy. I’d expect that from Soo rather than from Chanyeol.” He says, and throws a glance towards Baekhyun. “Chanyeol is the nicest, but he’s just not the kind of guy that picks up a fight.”

Sehun is right, Chanyeol is a bit grumpy and likes to curse at his sister half of the times. Some other times he spends teasing Baekhyun, but he’d never be genuinely mean towards anyone. 

“I still think you should tell him. He’s your owner. I mean..” Jongin starts, rubs his nose and closes his book before putting it back in his backpack. “I don’t know, if I have a problem the first person I want to tell me it’s going to be fine it’s Kyungsoo even if it’s not the truth.” 

Sehun doesn’t say anything, Baekhyun just gapes at him. 

“Wow, you must really like Soo a lot.”

“He’s my own.. he’s my friend Baekhyun, isn’t this how it’s supposed to be?”

That’s what Baekhyun wonders as well. Chanyeol’s affection towards him as a corgi is nice, but he likes it even more when they just lie down on his bed, the lights off, and Chanyeol’s asks him questions. They tell each other how their day went, and things like that. There’s stars stickers on the ceiling and Chanyeol plays with his ears -especially the one that flops down, Chanyeol seems to like that one more.

Cuddles are nice, but that sort of friendship is what has gotten Baekhyun so attached to him in the first place.

 

“So, will you come down those stairs or do I have to come pick you up?”

Aside from school troubles, Baekhyun has a problem with the stairs that lead to Chanyeol’s room. He can climb up just fine, he can do that, he’s big enough. Coming down though, that’s a bit more challenging because Baekhyun is a puppy in hybrid form and will stay a puppy until he’s like twenty. And his legs are short. And it’s embarrassing. Going down the stairs as a human is not a problem, it’s not. When doing it as a puppy, though, the stairs just seem.. _steep_

Chanyeol -and his not that short legs- is already sitting indian style as he taps the last step at the bottom of the stairs a couple of times. 

“Come on?”

Baekhyun yips, then pretty much glares at Chanyeol and lies down on the carpet, displeased with the whole situation. Why does he need to learn how to come down the stairs in corgi form anyway? He can just go back to the room, shift, get some clothes and comfortably reach the kitchen.

“Does it mean I win the bet? Are you giving up?”

Chanyeol is wearing this new baseball cap his dad has just gotten him, a whole Adidas set with sweats and hoodie. He’s even got a few pimples on his forehead, which he keeps covering with his bangs hoping people don’t notice it. Baekhyun has already seen the endless collection of acne preventing products in the bathroom cabinet that Chanyeol is trying hard to keep secret from his mom. 

“I’m not buying you that new Spiderman comic that you wanted if you don’t come down.” He says, smirking. “And we both know how much you wanted it.” Yes, they both know, and also they both know Chanyeol is going to buy it anyway. It’s just that Baekhyun is a sore loser.

“You said you could, and that I would have to pay for it. But I won’t if you give up.” he says. “Oh well, you can stay there, I’ll go buy myself ice cream instead.”

He stands up, then puts his cap backwards. He thinks he looks good. Even his clothes, he tells his dad to buy them a couple of sizes bigger. Baekhyun literally drowns in them when he gets them as hand-me-downs. 

“Well? Are you really not coming?” He asks again, as he picks up his bag from where he usually tosses it coming back from school. There’s the noise of something metallic hitting something else. Baekhyun knows where Chanyeol is really going, his whine turns into a weak bark as he stands on all four and sends the teenager another deadly glare.

“Look, mom wants you to learn how to do it as a corgi. I know it’s scary, but what if something happens and you can’t shift?” 

He gnarls in response, then looks down the stairs once more. It looks high, and he’s terrified of losing balance and rolling down without control. Baekhyun loves his corgi form, but at the same time he likes living the longest life he can, if possible, in both forms. What if his neck snaps and he ends up dead instead?

It’s ..scary. He whines some more, and searches for Chanyeol’s eyes hoping he’ll just give up and pick him up instead. Which is what he’s done every single time until today. 

It works. Chanyeol’s resolution to leave seems to falter a bit. “Come on ‘Hyun? I won’t let you fall I promise. I’m here, see?” He lets the bag drop from his shoulder to the floor and kicks it to the side, as he comes up a couple of steps. 

Baekhyun cries out, and walks from one side to the stairs to the other, trying somehow to find something to hold on to, anything, just in case. There’s nothing, except Chanyeol kneeling there in front of him with that annoying smile of his. 

Oh, whatever.

He tries, his front paws reach the very edge of the first step and he tries to slide down until they touch the lower one. Good, halfway there, good. “Careful..” Chanyeol says, but his hands don’t reach up to help him. Baekhyun shoves a satisfied look to the other, and it’s all fun and games until he realizes his hind legs are still up there and his body is probably not going to fit in the space between the two steps.

He whines, then tries to shift his weight on his front paws. Bad, bad idea. He loses his grip and ends up sliding down on his belly, just for a couple of seconds. When he manages to stop, his butt still hoisted up, he’s not sure what’s preventing him from falling all the way down. He hates Chanyeol and Chanyeol’s mom for making him do this.

“You’re doing well Hyun, c’mon. Try again.” The teenager helps him regain balance, changing his position slightly and Baekhyun can sit up, bark, definitely upset.

“Try again? Once more and I’ll pick you up.” Chanyeol always keeps his promises, and this time he seems ready to catch him. 

He repeats the same process, reaches the edge and forces himself to ignore the height. It’s terrifying, and he’s tempted to close his eyes. In the end he doesn't, but he doesn’t slip either. He keeps control of his hind paws and finally they land next to his forelegs, successfully completely his very first step in going down the stairs as a puppy -very sloppily he’d say. 

He looks up. Chanyeol is beaming. “You did it!”

His hands stay there a bit longer, as Baekhyun tries again and again until he’s at the bottom of the stairs and he’s not that scared anymore. “You get your Spiderman. And ice cream. You were awesome!” Chanyeol keeps going.

And cuddles, Baekhyun automatically thinks, as he nonchalantly heads for the main door, seemingly completely disinterested in Chanyeol’s smile and the fact that the other has yelled at least three times that “Mom, Baekhyun can go down the stairs on his own now, mom!”

 

He does get his comic book, in the end, but Chanyeol decides to wait for ice cream since, technically, Baekhyun should shift to eat his. 

The neighborhood is a relatively peaceful one. Almost every one of the people living nearby has a hybrid, from dogs to cats. Baekhyun hasn’t met them all, but for some reason the old ladies in the park seem to worship him both in human and corgi form.

Sometimes they walk with Kyungsoo and Jongin, some others Sehun joins them in human form just to talk about japanese anime with Chanyeol -and they always end up fighting about what character is their favorite. Chanyeol always lets Sehun win, because _he’s younger_. Or so he says.

Today it’s one of the times that Baekhyun prefers, because it’s just the two of them. And Baekhyun likes socializing, he really does, but he enjoys being with Chanyeol the most without hybrid cats stealing his human’s attention.

“I brought clothes, do you want to shift first?”

Baekhyun nods, one ear flaps along with the movement. He changes in public restrooms quite often. Chanyeol always has clothes prepared for him, and it’s not difficult to hand them to Baekhyun from the gap under the door of the toilet stall so that the hybrid doesn’t have to walk out is his birthday suit.

The public restroom in the train station is disgusting. Baekhyun has the instinct to gag every time he walks in there. It’s the same routine today, and he forces himself to hold his breath as he hastily puts one of Chanyeol’s old t-shirts, a huge zip up hoodie and a pair of oddly looking green sweatpants. The shoes are a pair of Chanyeol’s old converse, but they fit just fine.

He finds Chanyeol standing against the wall, holding two popsicles and Baekhyun’s comic book. “I should tell mom to buy you clothes.” He says, as he eyes Baekhyun from head to toe, before handing him his things.

“It’s ok, yours are enough.” He shrugs, as he flicks through the comic book, his left hand still holding an unwrapped popsicle that will probably melt soon.

“Nah, you can’t wear those if you want to hang out with your friends. I mean you look ok to us, but it’s your friends from school. If you’re as lucky as me you’ll have crazy ones for sure.” 

Chanyeol has changed a lot since the day Baekhyun met him. Now he constantly tries to look older, more mature. He used to throw tantrums at the beginning, now he just gets angry and doesn’t talk. Baekhyun, on the other hand, thinks he’s probably changing as well.

“I don’t know, clothes cost money.” He murmurs, as he licks the side of the popsicle.

“Mine do as well. I can live without a t-shirt or two.” Chanyeol cards one hand through his hair distractedly as he puts his baseball hat on Baekhyun’s head.

“Just in case the other guys don’t like hybrids there. I’m sure I can knock a couple out, but mom will kill me if we get into trouble.” 

Baekhyun’s ears prevent the hat from fitting perfectly, but it’s good enough. He’s careful to hide his tail under the zip up hoodie as they walk to the back of the train station.

 

There’s a couple of walls literally covered in graffiti there. Baekhyun is not sure if that’s actually legal, but it does look sick. Chanyeol and him are definitely newbies compared to the High School students they meet there sometimes, but playing with spray paint is fun and Baekhyun has been working on his tag for a while now.

“He’s seriously good, how long have you been doing this exactly?” Baekhyun turns around to see Minhyuk, one of the older guys, talk to Chanyeol first, then look at him or, better, at the small piece he’s been working on for the last half an hour.

“Hm, two or three weeks? He’s good at drawing though.” Chanyeol says, and Baekhyun shakes his head, flustered.

“What? No I’m actually not that good, this is nothing compared to what you guys usually do.” He’s proud of the small corgi with headphones he’s just finished painting, however the huge wildstyle that covers the wall next to the one he’s painting on was made by Minhyuk himself, so he definitely doesn’t deserve the compliment.

“Nah, you’re good Byunbaek.” Taeil yells, from the corner of the wall on the other side of the road where he’s been _bombing_ with two of three colors. He’s gone for speed today, he’ll probably join Minhyuk for a big blockbuster on the wall they want to claim as theirs, a bit further down the road.

Baekhyun laughs nervously as he hides his nose in the collar of Chanyeol’s zip up and starts spraying, in order to give a bit more depth to the headphones design he’s painted. 

“My hybrid is so cool.” He hears Chanyeol whisper as he comes a bit closer, so that the others can’t hear them talk. 

“Stop that, you’re embarrassing.”

“Na, I won’t, can’t wait to brag about this.” He says, and puts his mask on once more. Chanyeol is definitely not that good at this, and although he was the one who wanted to try it at first, they keep coming here because Baekhyun likes it.

“Next time I’ll pay for the cans.” Baekhyun adds, his voice muffled behind the fabric of the hoodie.

Chanyeol hums, but he doesn’t sound that convinced.

 

Chanyeol lies again that night when his mom asks why he smells like spray paint. He says they were hanging out with Jongdae in his garage, and that place stinks. Baekhyun snickers, as he sneaks into the bathroom to shift.

He lets Yoora pet him for most of the evening while they watch tv on the rocking chair. They’re watching The Goonies again, the boys have just found the treasure map, and now Mikey is telling the story of pirate One-eyed Willy. Baekhyun climbs down her legs, as she dozes off doing her manicure and waits in front of the bigger sofa until Chanyeol realizes what’s going on. 

Baekhyun is tired, no, exhausted, and he has school tomorrow, so Yoora is definitely not the one he wants to make him relax. Plus they had a good day today, those are good enough reasons to nibble the hem of Chanyeol’s pajama pants. The human yawns, then stretches his arms out and finally reaches out to help Baekhyun climb up. He waits until the hybrid has found a comfortable spot on his lap before he can start stroking his back. 

“You’re definitely not that bad as a hybrid you know?” 

Baekhyun groans and Chanyeol laughs in response. There he is, pretending he’s all grown up when Baekhyun is the older one here. If he was human he’d probably complain, but he’s a corgi now, and Chanyeol is doing a good job in pampering him -knowing all the good spots that make Baekhyun melt in a corgi shaped puddle.  
He decides he can let it slide, just this once.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Of a green eyed monster called jealousy and overly affectionate kittens.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here you are with the new chapter! Enjoy!

Sehun stays over for a few days and something is off. 

Jongin is ill. Kyungsoo has taken him to the vet twice already and they still have no idea what’s making him sick. And since they still don’t know, Kyungsoo thought it would be a good idea if Sehun stayed over at Chanyeol’s to make sure the hybrid doesn’t catch whatever Jongin has. 

Chanyeol adores Sehun, so he just says “Why not?” with a shrug, when Kyungsoo asks him over the phone. 

Sehun arrives on Sunday and shifts the second he walks in, going from thin twelve years old kid to a russian blue kitten with greyish green eyes trying to free himself from the bundle of clothes on the floor. Kyungsoo hands Chanyeol the hybrid’s backpack before he hunkers down to pick up his clothes. “I’m taking Jongin to another vet tomorrow. I’ll keep you updated.” it’s all he says, and hurries back home. He’s the most worried Chanyeol has ever seen him, and he wonders if that’s the reason behind Sehun’s abrupt shift.

Sehun snuggles against his leg, he purrs. 

“Jongin’s gonna be fine, Hun.” Chanyeol says softly, kneeling to stroke Sehun’s back.  
He’s soft, his fur is ruffled here and there compared to how sleek it would be if he was an adult cat. His tail is a bit crooked at the end, he was born that way, but Sehun likes to make people freak out thinking they broke his tail. He did it with Chanyeol. He cried.

Said tail swishes in the air, back and forth, and Sehun makes a long stretch before wandering off to the kitchen. Chanyeol stands up, stretches out his arms.

He’s grown a bit taller now that he’s almost fourteen, his first year of highschool is coming soon and he can’t be more excited to finally meet new people. 

The D&D sessions have become a bit more sparse, replaced by longer game nights. Sometimes it’s just him and Baekhyun, some others the others join as well. Chanyeol thought Jongdae was the most challenging to play with, but the second they give Baekhyun the controller Chanyeol is forced to change his mind. Baekhyun is the best out of all of them.

The corgi hybrid is in the kitchen, hunched over some maths homework he’s been working on for the last couple of hours. Sehun has already claimed a spot on Chanyeol’s usual chair, he’s carefully staring at the Baekhyun, the point of his tail thumping on the fabric of the cushion every now and then.

“How’s homework going?” 

Baekhyun glances up, meets Chanyeol’s eyes and goes back to scribbling numbers on a smaller piece of paper. “Fine I guess?”

His ears are both flopping down, he’s dyed his hair to a lighter reddish brown that matches with them. It’s soft, when Chanyeol reaches out to run his fingers through it. Baekhyun almost presses his head against the palm of Chanyeol’s hand. He’s still concentrated on his homework, his teeth digging into his lower lip. He never lets Chanyeol pet him as a human, so he must be really focusing on his work, if he’s allowing him to.

Sehun meows jumping off the chair with a single graceful jump. His sinuous walking is still on the cute side, since he’s so compact, but his breed gives him an elegance that Chanyeol can’t see in any other cat really. Or maybe he just likes Sehun.

Baekhyun jolts at the sound, his shoulders contracting for a second before he shimmies out of Chanyeol’s reach. Sehun pushes his head close to his ankle instead, his purring rattling against Chanyeol’s leg. 

“Are we going to _the hole_ , today?” 

Baekhyun asks, with apparently no interest, still munching on his chapped bottom lip. The Hole, aka the street covered in graffiti in the back of the railway station. Chanyeol hums. They haven’t been going a lot recently, Baekhyun being busy with some afternoon classes and Chanyeol with an English exam. He hesitates to answer.

That’s when Sehun’s ears twitch, his purring intensifies for a second when Chanyeol reaches out to pick him up and balance him on his forearm, against his chest. “Well Sehun just got here, what about we pass for today? We can play something upstairs together.” He proposes with a smile, his fingers scratching Sehun’s favorite spot right under his left ear, closer to his neck.

The hybrid mewls and purrs some more, his claws digging for a second right into Chanyeol’s skin. Baekhyun turns to look at them. He flashes a look to the minor scratches on Chanyeol’s forearm, and if Chanyeol wasn’t a complete idiot, completely focused on Sehun’s purring, his tail swishing and his soft grey fur, he would probably notice some annoyance in Baekhyun’s expression.

“Oh, ok.” He says, his voice a bit closer to a murmur than usual.

 

Sehun shifts back to human for him and Chanyeol to watch One Piece on tv, so that they can discuss this episode’s issues. His ears and crooked tail stay the same throughout the shift, his hair is charcoal black, a bit longer than allowed in school, Chanyeol notices. He’s wearing a plain white t-shirt with a small hole on the shoulder that Chanyeol is quite sure has seen Jongin wear multiple times. He’s got the neckline hooked on his nose, his knees cocked up to his chest. 

“I didn’t like princess Vivi’s character that much.” He starts, his voice muffled by the fabric. “The name is cute though.” 

“Mh? Why? I liked the whole Alabasta adventures.” Chanyeol reaches out for his nutella bread while the Luffy’s crew shows says goodbye to princess Vivi showing the cross they all have on their forearms.

“I just prefer Nami. She’s way cooler.” Sehun shifts so that he’s lying on the couch his back against one of the armrests, his tail curls around Chanyeol’s wrist, before he picks it up and starts combing it through with his fingers.

Sehun’s ears twitch once, twice, then he squirms and slides lower on the couch. He giggles through a definitely involuntary purr, Chanyeol raises an eyebrow. 

“Don’t do that, it’s ticklish.” He says, as he pulls his tails back to hold it between his fingers. He’s still smiling, though. Chanyeol thinks Sehun has cute lips even in human form. And he almost looks like a girl more than Seulgi does -he told Jongdae once, he almost got punched, by Seulgi of course.

“I thought you didn’t have that much control on your tail..”

“I don’t, but.. I don’t know, it’s ticklish. Kyungsoo avoids it usually.” He explains. “It moves on its own when I’m nervous..or angry.” 

Chanyeol hums, and stretches his arm towards Sehun’s head. The other takes the hint, and he moves so that the human can pet him. He purrs, visibly enjoying the cuddle session, and ends up lying down again, his head on one of Chanyeol bony thighs. 

Baekhyun takes a peep of the living room by the bottom of the stairs, he’s still holding his books. He’s wearing one of Chanyeol’s hoodies and some jeans that Yoora has bought him. One of his ears is folded down as usual. Chanyeol expects him to join them and just drop the books somewhere, but he doesn’t.

And that’s the first thing that is off. Because Baekhyun never walks away on him when there’s anime to watch together. Chanyeol is stupid, doesn’t understand, but he just lets it slide as one of those Baekhyun-is-in-a-bad mood moments. 

Something is definitely off when Baekhyun heads out saying that he’ll eat with a friend from school, and doesn’t come upstairs to tell Chanyeol about it. Or ask for clothes or anything really. Chanyeol is a bit annoyed, Sehun distracts him again.

“Must be Yoo-Kwon.” He suggests, sitting on the floor of Chanyeol’s room. “He’s close with Baekhyun, I’ve seen them together at school.” And he pushes his ears into Chanyeol’s hand, as the other scratches them first, then massages a spot on Sehun’s shoulder. He melts, his tail stretched and upright. 

 

Chanyeol pretends not to be nervous when it’s almost ten pm and Baekhyun is not back yet. Their curfew it’s usually around that time, but Baekhyun has never been this late when he was out with school friends. 

He comes back at 10.02pm and Chanyeol’s heart almost jumps out of his chest when he hears the front door opening -and his mom yelling at Baekhyun just like she would if the hybrid was her real son.

Chanyeol snakes inside the bathroom when Baekhyun is washing his face, and closes the door before Sehun can get inside as well. He can hear him meow for a while -and he does feel kind of bad, but he needs to talk to Baekhyun, since he hasn’t for the whole day.

“Late night, huh?”

Baekhyun shrugs, rubbing his face with a towel. He has just showered, his hair is still dripping down his neck, the back of his t-shirt wet in splotches on his lower back.

“Why didn’t you call? Or answer your phone? Mom was worried.”

“I forgot.” He replies, awfully cold. Chanyeol raises an eyebrow and meets his eyes in the mirror. He sighs. It feels like being back to day one, when Baekhyun hated him. “I’m sorry” The hybrid adds, and steps back from the sink. 

“I was worried, I thought you were dead or something.” There’s some mirth in Chanyeol’s tone, his lips curl up a bit awkwardly in a toothless grin. 

Baekhyun just stares for a second, snorts, then walks past him without saying a thing.

“Hyun what the hell?” 

Baekhyun never replies. He leaves the door open on purpose, letting a pretty annoyed Sehun inside while he runs down the stairs instead.

 

For the first time in one year since Chanyeol got him, Baekhyun sleeps on his bed in the basement. Sehun is curled up in a small pearly grey ball of fur, half hiding his muzzle under Chanyeol’s hand, half snuggled against him when Chanyeol notices the door opening slightly so that Baekhyun can sneak in. He doesn’t get closer, though, and stands in the light coming from the corridor, one hand on the door frame.

He stares at both of them for a few seconds, his expression a mix between taken aback and irritated, then mutters a whispered “Goodnight.” before closing the door again. Chanyeol doesn’t even have the time to register what’s going on. Because it’s weird.

And he doesn’t like that he’s not sleeping with his hybrid, even if it’s just for a night. He’s gotten used to Baekhyun’s form snuggled next to him, even to the hybrid shifting in his sleep now and then and Chanyeol waking up with a strand of Baekhyun’s human hair in his mouth.  
He tries to sit up, leave the bed and follow him, he really does, but then Sehun stirs, his ears twitch and his tail whips the air, one of his paws reaching for Chanyeol’s sleeve. He sighs, reaches for his phone.

The screen of his brand new Nokia phone -courtesy of his dad shamelessly trying to buy him- almost blinds him, as he types a few words and searches for Baekhyun’s contact. 

Hyun come upstairs there’s space

He waits a few minutes for an answer he doesn’t get. Starts a call, lets it ring once and then he hangs up. They use that as a signal when they’re late in replying to each other from school. Baekhyun still doesn’t reply, and despite Chanyeol really liking Sehun -no kidding, he adores the cat- he can’t sleep the whole night.

 

“Where’s Baekhyun?” 

His mom takes a scoop of rice from the rice cooker and shoves it into a bowl, only distractedly reading one of her harmony books. The weather is nice, Chanyeol can’t wait to get rid of his puffy jacket to finally wear something lighter. He sits at the end of the table, where most of the light from the window makes the chair toasty and warms his back.

“He left first.” She says, takes a bite from a toast. She never sits. She hands carton milk to Sehun, makes sure that stain on the left of Chanyeol nose is gone before he leaves for school, reads her book. “Said he had to help with a project or something.”

Suspicious.

Chanyeol doesn’t like this feeling. He steals a glance of Sehun, peacefully sitting next to him on the table, one leg craned up on the chair, the other dangling down. His tail is relatively still, swinging left to right just once in a while, lazily.

“Yeol does Baekhyun not like me?” Sehun looks up from his milk, and he looks dead serious in his school uniform, looking at Chanyeol.

How is he supposed to know, exactly? Baekhyun has never been an open book to anyone, especially to him. They’ve gotten close, a lot closer than they were before, but Baekhyun is still kind wary around Chanyeol, as if he’s trying hard not to get attached, and it makes Chanyeol confused. 

“I think he’s just in a bad mood these days.” He tries to justify. “I’m sure he likes you.” Chanyeol is fairly sure that Baekhyun doesn’t have a problem with Sehun but rather with him and resolves to tackle him at night to finally talk it out.

Chanyeol shakes his head. He glances at his phone, lying on the desk, hoping to see a text or something, but there’s absolutely nothing.

 

The news at school today is that Jongdae has apparently given his first kiss, and he’s been boasting about that for the whole lunch break in the courtyard, and when Chanyeol learns that it’s Seulgi he’s kissed -with tongue and everything! Don’t forget the details!- he finds himself not being especially surprised by the fact that she’s Jongdae’s hybrid.

Kyungsoo just shrugs it off. “What’s so special about that?” He asks, but he doesn’t lift his eyes from his phone screen. He hasn’t left it for a second, sneaking peeks at it even during class to check on Jongin and Sehun, one at home alone, the other probably busy with the test he had today.

“What do you mean what’s so special? It’s a kiss. The real thing.” Jongdae insists, then he takes a sip from his orange juice. “Have you done something like that?” 

“Yeah, so?” Kyungsoo types a few more words before looking up. Jongdae is speechless, Chanyeol’s jaw would probably drop to the ground as well if he hadn’t got his own problems to deal with.

“You? Kissed someone?” Jongdae asks, and looks at Kyungsoo like he’s seeing an alien for the first time. “And who? Your mom doesn’t count Do Kyungsoo.”

“None of your business.” Kyungsoo dismisses them him one more shrug. “Is Baekhyun ok?” He goes on, eyeing Chanyeol now.

“Mh?” He blinks, once, twice. Nods, then shakes his head. “Yes, no I mean..Has Sehun said something?”

“Yeah, sort of.” Kyungsoo replies, and Jongdae is already diving to steal his phone.

“What have you done to him this time?” Jongdae asks, and he’s glaring now. “If you keep mistreating him he’s coming to stay at my place. I like him more anyway.”

“I don’t…” Chanyeol punches him on the thigh, blandly. “I don’t mistreat Baekhyun and it’s not true, I like him a lot.”

“Sehun says he’s been acting weird.” Kyungsoo continues, tentatively, his voice is careful as always, and it’s started to change just recently, despite being still a bit high pitched.

“He’s just the usual, except that he’s been kind of avoiding Sehun. And me. Mostly me I think, Sehun is just always around.” He explains, as he leans against one of the pillars that run along the perimeter of the courtyard, in front of the school cafeteria. 

“Have you been overly clingy with Sehun like you usually are?” It’s Jongdae speaking, as he plays with the carton of his orange juice, making i jump on his palm.

Kyungsoo doesn’t react, he tilts his head slightly, waiting for Chanyeol’s answer.

“Is that annoying him..?” He asks instead, his brow furrowed. Chanyeol is a plain idiot, and they all know. He’s good, but he’s not the smartest when it comes to this things. He’s either too young or to enthusiastic to notice things sometimes.

“Well..Could be? It’s your Hybrid, not mine.” Jongdae throws there. 

Chanyeol doesn’t know what to say to that. He stays silent, staring at his phone until lunch break ends. In the meanwhile Jongdae seems adamant on his _Kyungsoo’s first kiss_ mission, and can’t stop harassing him. Chanyeol does feel a bit sorry for him, so doesn’t rat out Kyungsoo when he sees him leave earlier than usual before last period.

It’s almost the end of class when his phone vibrates in his pencil case. It’s just a text and Chanyeol’s last period is Maths, so he wouldn’t get distracted that easily since he sucks at Maths and he really wants to get a good grade this time. But _Hyun_ flashes on the screen, and he knows that he needs to read it.

_Can you come pick me up?_

Chanyeol literally runs out of the class the second the bell rings, forgets to get his textbooks from under his desk and jumps on his bike with his uniform a mess and his jacket completely open. 

There have been two cases in which Baekhyun has asked him to go pick him up. Once he wasn’t feeling that well, the other he just wanted Chanyeol to go back home with him because both Sehun and Jongin were on holiday with Kyungsoo. This time, though, the second he stops the bike in front of the gate, the hybrid is sitting on the edge of the sidewalk, one of his legs folded towards his chest and the other stretched in front. 

Chanyeol can’t unsee the white bandage on his ankle. He’s wearing one of Chanyeol’s hoodies as he always does over his normal uniform -you could still see the shirt collar peeking from the neckline- hood hiding his ears and pink slippers. Baekhyun hates pink.

“What happened?” Chanyeol gets off the bike the fastest he’s ever done it. Who cares if Baekhyun is avoiding him, his ankle is twice the size it usually is.

Baekhyun opens his mouth to talk and Sehun snakes out from inside his hoodie.Only then Chanyeol notices the two backpacks on the floor, one, the white one, obviously Sehun’s. 

“What happened then?” He reaches out to scratch Sehun’s head and with his other hand lifts Baekhyun’s leg enough to have a better look at his ankle. More like the small orange sized blob he has now.  
“I fell. Nothing much. But I couldn’t walk and Sehun couldn’t have carried me with two backpacks, so.” More like he was too lazy to do it, Chanyeol thinks. He stands back, not before picking up Sehun. The kitten starts to climb on his uniform and jacket until he finds a comfortable position on his chest and Chanyeol makes sure he doesn’t fall.

The cat’s ears twitch as he sniffs the human’s jacket, his tail rests on his forearm. 

Chanyeol does notice the way Baekhyun is staring, when he’s paying attention to the kitten hybrid. He can’t see his tail, which usually gives away Baekhyun’s emotions more than Baekhyun himself, but he can see the other’s expression and he suddenly feels like shit.

“Can you stand?” He asks, and offers his arm for the hybrid to take. Before he can actually grip at it, though, Chanyeol hooks it around Baekhyun’s back so that he can half limp, half jump, one arm across Chanyeol’s shoulders.

Baekhyun is usually in corgi form when they ride together, curled up inside the big pocket in the front of Chanyeol’s hoodie. Not today, though, and Chanyeol can’t help but feel a little guilty, as he closes his jacket to accommodate Sehun inside instead, although he’s not the one that can’t walk.

 

They don’t talk much on the ride back, not even when they finally get home and Baekhyun flops on the sofa, swollen ankle on the armchair. Chanyeol hurries up to get some ice and some ointment from the kitchen, while Sehun shifts in their bathroom and puts on some clothes.

“What happened?” He asks, as Sehun sits right next to Baekhyun, his tail resting on Baekhyun’s tummy. That’s the closest Chanyeol has seen the two in the past few days.

He hands Sehun the ice pack and it’s the cat hybrid the one who presses on Baekhyun’s ankle. The other hisses and the cat’s ears move imperceptibly as a reaction to the noise.

“So?” He’s sitting on the group, looking up at the two of them.

“Nothing happened Yeol, we were playing football and I tripped.” Baekhyun almost sounds annoyed, while Sehun seems like he’s holding back a smile. Chanyeol hates not to be part of the obvious something they’re hiding, but he’s not one that gives up that easily anyway.

He doesn’t ask anymore, he opts to wait until Baekhyun and him are alone. Because he’s most definitely not sleeping without his hybrid today. And for all he cares Sehun can join as well. 

They watch Dragonball Z together and Baekhyun falls asleep right through it, one of his ears partially covers his fringe as he curls up in the corner of the sofa. 

“What?” Sehun’s eyes glance towards Chanyeol every now and then, and he snickers when Chanyeol’s eyebrow arches up in confusion.

“Baekhyun wasn’t mad at me.” He says. Chanyeol is a bit taken aback, he tilts his head to the side and, involuntarily, shifts so that he’s a bit closer to the corgi. “Well..” He starts, then shrugs. “I told you he wasn’t.”

“No, I asked him.” 

“What did he say then?” Chanyeol’s heart beat gets just a bit louder, but he’s young and the only crush he’s gotten in his entire life was on Avril Lavigne, so that didn’t really count. He blames it on the fact that he’s nervous, he’s scared that Baekhyun is mad at him. 

“I think he’ll tell you himself.” Sehun says, and his lips stretch in a smile, his eyes crescents. He’s puffing up the point his tail with his fingers, and Chanyeol has the weird instinct to touch it himself -fluffy.

“You’re a jerk. You can’t tell me half of the story and then look at me with that stupid face and tell me he’ll eventually spill the beans.” Chanyeol’s voice goes a bit louder than usual, Baekhyun groans and stirs in his sleep, one hand reaching to scratch the only ear that’s still kind of perked up, catching noises.

“I’m a loyal friend.” He justifies himself and stretches his arms on the backrest. Sehun is growing taller, but his face still looks like that of a child. 

“I’m pretty sure jerk is the right term.” And he puts emphasis on it, since he’s been exploring the whole _bad words_ world since Baekhyun and him have discovered that graffiti place and the older guys that hang out there.

 

Yoora joins them soon after. She forces Sehun to shift, and he’s soon walking out of his uniform as a cat, after his face seems to melt into that of a feline and his limbs start to shrink. When he climbs on Yoora’s lap and shamelessly rubs his face on her hands, he’s the cute little kitten Chanyeol is so used to seeing. 

“I kinda prefer you as a cat Hun. What about dropping Kyungsoo and living here?” Yoora says, as she plays with Sehun’s paws, touching the pink jellies with her fingers as he’s lying down on his back. 

His tail moves in retaliation for her words, and he reaches to nibble at her hand, in protest. “Okay, okay, I get it, you won’t.”

Chanyeol chuckles, shaking his head while really looking at Baekhyun, who is rubbing his eyes with the back of his hand now. The hybrid yawns.

“Sehun would go to anyone for cuddles.” Chanyeol says, almost affectionately.

Baekhyun stands up gingerly, trying not to put too much weight on his ankle and smiles at Yoora without saying anything when he notices how she’s still playing with Sehun. She’s now caught his tail between her fingers and is pulling at it slightly. 

“He wouldn’t go to anyone.” He murmurs, and kind of limps towards the stairs. “I’m going to sleep, see you guys tomorrow.” He says, and ignores Chanyeol’s attempt of helping him walk, preferring to hold onto things and doors instead.

Chanyeol’s had enough of that already. Stupid proud Baekhyun.

“What’s with him?” It’s Yoora asking, as Sehun rolls in her lap and licks her hand, his tail straight up in the air. He’s purring loudly now, it’s kind of cute.

“I don’t know, Sehun won’t tell me.”

“And why does Sehun know and you don’t?” She shoots back. 

Chanyeol rolls his eyes, shifts his weight on his legs. “You just sounded like mom.”

“Move your ass already? Come on?” 

Chanyeol really doesn’t like bossy Yoora. 

 

And he absolutely hates Baekhyun when he does this thing where he doesn’t want to talk or is in a bad mood and doesn’t let him in. It’s annoying, because Chanyeol loves helping people feel better, he likes people smiling. He much prefers a smiling Baekhyun, although the smiles he gets are mostly shy.

The basement is still mostly used as the D&D sacred place, Baekhyun never sleeps on his bed anyway, he just changes in his room, keeps some of his comics and stuff, but spends most of his time in Chanyeol’s room.

Chanyeol finds him lying down with a Spider Man comic book open on his face, his ears -both ears- splayed on the pillow and one of his legs dangling down the side of the bed.

“Oi, you asleep?” He moves his leg slightly, just with the point of his foot. Baekhyun stirs, then lets the comic book slide off his nose. 

“Mh?” 

“Move, c’mon..” He starts pushing the hybrid close to the wall while he moves on his knees, until he’s got enough space to expand like a starfish, literally leaving Baekhyun in a corner. The hybrid has his knees close to his chest, arms hugging them. He’s still wearing Chanyeol’s hoodie.

“Where am I supposed to sleep now?” He asks, and he sounds mildly annoyed. Chanyeol just grins.

“Here.” he points at his chest. “Sehun said you have something to tell me.” he continues, staring at the corgi, his head to the side. Baekhyun plays with the bandage on his foot, he sneaks his finger under the edge of it, looks everywhere but Chanyeol. He waits a long time before finally giving him an answer.

“I..don’t want to interrupt when you’re with Sehun.” He starts, hesitant. “But I kinda feel lonely when he’s here, and I know it’s the dog-me and not real-me, but I don’t know, i can’t help it.” He blurts out the rest.

“So you _were_ jealous.” He says. Baekhyun shakes his head frantically, his ears following as well. 

“Anyway I’m not gonna sleep without my hybrid one more night. I sleep here today.” 

And he doesn’t shift, until Baekhyun has given up, and he’s lying on his side, not too far from Chanyeol. He smells nice, and when Chanyeol’s hand reaches for his ears he imperceptibly pushes into the touch like he did in the kitchen yesterday.

“I didn’t fall. Someone was saying shit about Sehun. I was trying to defend him and they pushed me.” He murmurs, his back to Chanyeol’s side.

“Are you ok aside from your ankle?” Chanyeol asks, he stops his hand’s motion for a moment, and Baekhyun turns his head almost in disappointment. He stretches a bit, so that Chanyeol’s fingers end up carding his hair now. He slightly nods.

“Are you not going to scold me for that? Or tell your mom?”

“It’s the two of us. Why should I tell her. You’re my best friend, I don’t cause trouble to my best friend.” And he speaks with such resoluteness that Baekhyun chuckles.

“I guess..” he says.

“Can you shift?” Chanyeol asks, and Baekhyun does after a while. He’s much smaller in corgi form, but Chanyeol likes how he’s slowly growing, together with him, and he still fits perfectly on his chest.

His tail is wagging when Chanyeol starts giving him a full body cuddle, he almost shakes, and he squirms to lick at the human’s hand first, then his wrist. He yips when Chanyeol squeezes his tail, but ends up relaxing completely when the middle schooler starts stroking his fur with both hands, and keeps doing that for a while.

Sehun joins them at some point, he hides in the crook between Chanyeol’s shoulder and his neck, and Chanyeol wakes up to Baekhyun still splayed lazily on his chest, and Sehun’s tail on his cheek. 

Jongin and Kyungsoo show up after school on Thursday. 

“Turns out it was some kind of stomach flu. He’s fine now.” Kyungsoo explains, and Chanyeol can see a smile cracking on his lips when he sees Sehun running down the stairs. It’s a miracle how he doesn’t trip and die, but he doesn’t even give Jongin the time to say hi.

He literally attacks him, his arms around his neck and his face hidden on his shoulder. Kyungsoo stares at them like he’s the most proud parent ever, even though he’s fourteen, and a bit too quiet sometimes.

Sehun doesn’t leave Jongin for a second, he’s still curled up around him when they end up playing Fifa, and when they leave he’s holding his hand.

“Sehun must like Jongin a lot.” Chanyeol says as Baekhyun and him are back from their evening walk and reading some comics in the yard. Baekhyun just hums.

“He does.” He says, and he looks a bit worried, Chanyeol notices. Their eyes meet, Baekhyun smiles first, he just follows. 

“I’m glad you’re not avoiding me anymore.” He says, without looking at him.

“Whatever..” Baekhyun says, but he’s still hiding the hint of a smile behind his lips and the savage wagging of his tail.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Of birthdays, beaches and sand.

Baekhyun isn’t necessarily fond of birthdays. It has nothing to do with the fear of getting old - he’s still in that phase where he tells people he’s a couple of years older than he actually is, mostly because being older sounds cool, even for hybrids. 

The main issue is that he’s never properly celebrated one, so he can’t be sure whether he likes the idea of having a birthday or not. Birthdays are mostly a human thing, hybrids are taught about what humans do to celebrate them, during their first classes about human traditions. Most of Baekhyun’s friends at the facility were convinced that they’d have their first real birthday with their future foster family, and the idea ended up growing on him as well.

Baekhyun doesn’t know how his friends spent their first birthday, but he does remember being a bit disappointed about his. Baekhyun’s former family was a young couple of newlyweds, and they seemed to like him a lot until they found out they were expecting a few days before Baekhyun’s birthday. That of course meant no birthday party for Baekhyun, and not even a happy birthday card from them. He still thinks they’re kind of justified for forgetting about it, though. A baby is a big event. Or maybe it’s just that he genuinely loved them a lot.

 

On May 2nd Chanyeol’s dad decides to pay a visit. Visits, in Chanyeol’s dad’s vocabulary, mean yelling at his ex wife, for the most part, and occasionally stealing Chanyeol or Yoora for a couple of hours to buy them expensive gifts -and with them their love, hopefully. 

This technique has stopped working for Chanyeol since the day his dad thought it was a good idea to share his thoughts about hybrids. Simply put, Chanyeol doesn’t like his hybrid being called a toy just because of what his dad hears from his colleagues, or from the news. And while Baekhyun let it slide with a glare, Chanyeol has stopped using his dad gifts since. He gives them to Baekhyun, or the toy, according to his dad’s opinion.

This visit is not different from the others, and soon enough, the moment the kitchen door closes, Park senior starts with the insults. 

Chanyeol and Baekhyun are both sitting on Baekhyun’s bed in the basement, playing Cluedo. Most of the original miniatures have gone lost, Chanyeol likes to say that Baekhyun ate them in hybrid form. Baekhyun gets mad every single time he says that.

There’s a blast of not really nice words coming from upstairs, along with the shattering of glass. “They must have thrown a dish again.” Baekhyun stops his motions midway, his fingers almost placing Colonel Mustard on the board. 

Chanyeol raises his head, throws a glance towards the stairs and shrugs it off. “I’ve gotten used to it.” He starts, and sighs soon after as he lies down on the bed, propped up on his elbows. “It’s been like this for years.”

“I know, but it’s still scary.” Baekhyun places his miniature in the square representing the conservatory. He gets distracted, doesn’t make any suggestion and stares at the board for a couple of seconds. 

“Well they already got divorced, what more can they do?” Chanyeol’s not paying attention to the game either, his arms folded under his head. 

He keeps saying that he’s used to it and that it’s not important to him, and it’s plausible because Chanyeol seems to have gotten desensitized to the whole my dad is a jerk issue. Baekhyun has only been living with them for a bit more than half a year, and can’t help but feel a bit out of place and anxious whenever Park Senior comes over. He still doesn’t know if it’s his hybrid half reacting that way, or just human Baekhyun being particularly sensitive.

“Are we still playing?” He asks as he lies down mirroring Chanyeol, just on the opposite direction. 

“Na. I’ve seen the cards anyway.” Baekhyun cackles. Typical.

“Cheater.” He whispers as he closes his eyes. He’s still smiling though, and Chanyeol laughs back. 

“You weren’t even trying Hyun.”

Chanyeol’s dad and his arrival creates a big crack in the otherwise peaceful weekend and by Friday night Baekhyun has convinced himself that it’s not a big deal if Chanyeol forgets. It’s just a birthday. 

“Not like I was expecting much.” He thinks, distractedly sucking on a popsicle on the porch, in the backyard. Chanyeol is still inside, studying for some final test he has next week and pretending not to be bothered by the fact that his dad wants him to move to his place.

“I’m not going to.” He clarifies, chuckling weakly as he repeats the same sentence for the one hundredth time. He sounds tired more than amused. “Can you stop worrying about it?”

“Well, it’s not completely up to you, is it?” Chanyeol has joined Baekhyun on the porch with one more popsicle and one extra jumper. He’s sitting on the wooden stairs leading to the yard, giving his back to the hybrid, he’s slouching as usual.

“It is, to some extent.” He replies with a flick of his shoulders, before turning around. “Catch.” He says, and tosses the black bundled up sweater on Baekhyun’s lap. “Mom says to wear something. She doesn’t want you sniffling around.”

He wants to sound so grown up, he tries hard, Baekhyun suppresses a laugh and replaces it with a grin. “Says King Sneezy.”

Chanyeol groans in response, he slouches a bit more, his head between his knees now. “It’s the allergies and you know it.” He says, and stands up before walking up to where the Hybrid is sitting, on the white wicker rocking chair. He nudges at his shin with his flip-flop. 

“You’re not allergic to me, are you?” Baekhyun throws at him, playfully. Chanyeol’s face goes still for a second, then he shakes his head and laughs out loud. Everything about Chanyeol is loud -Baekhyun doesn’t mind.

“That would suck.” He says. “What if I am, though? Huh Hyun?” And he keeps nudging at Baekhyun’s leg, annoyingly.

“Then fuck you I guess? I’m not leaving. You can go with your dad. Bye.” 

“I’m hurt.” Chanyeol finally stops (lightly) kicking his leg, almost pouts. 

“Sucks for you. At least your sister didn’t get the faulty sneezy genes. I’m staying with her.” 

Baekhyun starts laughing even before Chanyeol starts leaning forward, apparently trying a combo of tickling and punching him on his shoulders. “I like Yoora more anyway!” He yells, and curls up on one side in retaliation, his knees cocked up to his chest.

“Should I bite your ear like in that movie with the dentist?” Chanyeol tries to find a breach in the wall of Baekhyun’s arms to keep tickling his hips -Baekhyun’s most ticklish spot, the spot of death. The hybrid, instead, stops laughing and squirming stare ad Chanyeol when he fakes the aforementioned bite, and wince.

That’s when Chanyeol stops, and Baekhyun is internally dancing the happy dance. He loves to see Chanyeol’s reactions when he pretends to be hurt by something he does or say. He panics and apologizes until Baekhyun doesn’t have the heart to keep teasing him. 

“Wait, I didn’t mean to do it for real Hyun..” Here he goes. Baekhyun’s lips curl up in a smile.

“You know you’d start with another sneezing fit if you actually bite me, Park Chanyeol.” Mirth in his voice.

Chanyeol catches the hint immediately, his face scrunches up in a grimace, as he shakes his head. He flops on one of the chairs scattered around the porch his popsicle melting- still in its wrapping- near the wooden stairs. 

“Asshole.” He mutters. Then his arms are flailing in the air for a second. He kicks Baekhyun’s knee now, with a bit more purpose. “I thought you were really upset about that!” 

“I know.” Baekhyun grins, and stands up to stretch his arms above his head. He scratches close to his tail and only then he throws on the sweater. It’s big, which is not different from what Baekhyun usually wears, and it smells like laundry and Chanyeol. He likes it.

“I should really just leave you with my sister.” Chanyeol says, his tone almost daring, his usual grin making his ears look bigger than they already are. “I wonder if you’ll survive the ribbons and all that weird stuff she uses on her face when she thinks mom’s not watching.”

He can’t even finish the sentence, Baekhyun looks at him with a smug face, the actual _punch me_ face that he knows Chanyeol hates. “You wouldn’t.” He says, nonchalantly. He wears the hood, then pulls the strings until his face is half the size it was a second before. “You like me too much.” There’s some pride coloring his words, because Chanyeol looks at him and seems hesitant for a second.

“Don’t test me.” He says with his mouth, but Baekhyun is pretty sure his face is saying _you’re right, I wouldn’t_.

“Have you got plans with the guys from school for Sunday?” Chanyeol makes it sound like a casual question, but Baekhyun is warily eyeing him already.

Sunday, his birthday. 

“My mom wants to invite my grandma over.” He explains, but there’s some breathiness in the sentence that makes it sound like Chanyeol is not telling him everything.

Baekhyun shakes his head, still a bit taken aback. Chanyeol is usually really bad at surprising him, or in general in surprising people. Like last time, for Christmas, when he got him a present and let it slip while talking to Yoora during breakfast. Baekhyun had to pretend not to have heard anything for two days, and he even managed to pull the excited face when he got to opening it. Chanyeol is really bad at surprises, but at the same time Baekhyun considers himself unlucky with birthdays -even though his only experience with them is consists with that one birthday with his former foster family.

Plus, there’s still the whole Park Senior issue that keeps him on edge. Especially when he overhears Chanyeol having a conversation with his mom. Something about his dad, and _what about Hyun then?_. This second part confuses him, and he doesn’t want to hear the rest. He pushes the thought of his birthday to the back of his brain.

When the clock reads midnight Chanyeol is sitting next to Baekhyun on the floor of his room. He doesn’t say anything after the clock beeps a couple of times. Baekhyun tries waiting, while Chanyeol is stroking his fur and watching tv. He yawns, after a bit.

“I’m having a shower.” He says. 

 

Again, not like he expected anything. Chanyeol is definitely hiding something he can’t make out and despite Baekhyun being really good at reading Chanyeol, either Chanyeol is doing a better job this time, or he has genuinely forgotten about his birthday or there’s actually something weird going on that he doesn’t want to share.

Either way, Baekhyun struggles a bit to climb on his bed -climbing onto places in his hybrid form is quite the challenge. Chanyeol ends up helping him pushing his butt up the mattress before Baekhyun can tumble off, and they hybrid can settle on his usual spot next to the pillow. He only half notices the screen of his phone lighting up multiple times.

The morning after is just as hectic and weird at the same time. Something is obviously not being told, and it’s making Baekhyun more nervous than excited. Chanyeol’s mom is loading her car with stuff -food, mostly- and Chanyeol himself has been collecting more stuff -mostly Baekhyun’s dog toys- around the house. 

“Where are we going again?” He asks, standing in the corner of the kitchen with his carton milk, while Chanyeol is eating a half- burnt toast and packing a couple of comics into his backpack. “Should I bring something as well?”

“Uh-uh.” He shakes his head and proceeds to add coke to one of the bags his mom was filling up earlier. 

Baekhyun is many things, but he’s not an idiot, and it doesn’t take much to guess that Grandma is not coming over, and that they wouldn’t need this much food to visit her anyway.  
He stares at Chanyeol for a second, then glances at his mom and finally opts to pack a few comics himself, although they end up into Chanyeol’s bag.

“What about your nan?” he asks, just in case.

Chanyeol shrugs. “She wasn’t feeling well, so we’re going.” He doesn’t look Baekhyun in the eyes and, again, he sounds like he’s making it up.

Chanyeol is really _really_ bad at surprises.

 

The car ride is relatively silent. They drop Yoora in front of her friend’s house and she leaves a smooch on Baekhyun’s cheek before closing the car door. “Have fun!” She whispers cupping his ear before scratching it, and Baekhyun grins. He takes him two seconds to get excited, and less than that to turn to Chanyeol after the car leaves behind a Yoora waving her hand.

“We’re not going to your nan’s are we?” He whispers, elbowing Chanyeol on the hip. It’s so obvious at this point, especially since Chanyeol groans in frustration.

“I hate you and your hybrid sixth sense.” 

Baekhyun smiles wider, with a satisfied look. There’s definitely something that makes him feel powerful when he outsmarts Chanyeol. It must have something to do with the fact he’s a hybrid and he wants to prove that he can be smart too. Or maybe it’s just that Chanyeol’s surprised _and_ frustrated face is fun to watch. “And we’re going to the park, the one on the other side of the city aren’t we?” 

“HA! I _was_ able to hide something from you in the end!” Chanyeol’s expression changes in a second and he’s happier than Baekhyun has seen him in the last couple of weeks, since the day when finally passed his math test with a good score.

“Is it not the park?” Baekhyun hesitates for a second, taken aback. He studies Chanyeol’s stupid grin that he desperately wants to punch it off his face, and at the same time blames his stupid corgi half for being so damn excited over a surprise. His tail is definitely moving on its own, and he’s grateful that Chanyeol’s clothes are huge and his tail is the size of his palm. “The coffee shop that I like, then?” He tries.

Chanyeol shakes his head. “Nope. Not gonna tell you.” 

Baekhyun scans his face again, gets closer to the point where his forearm is on the backrest and he’s got one leg propped on the seat. “The arcade?”

Chanyeol genuinely laughs, and his mom follows him this time. Baekhyun is debating whether to feel extremely happy because of his birthday, the surprise, everything, or being really annoyed because he can’t guess. And Baekhyun is a sore loser. “It’s the arcade and you’re lying right?”

“I don’t know, what do you say?” Chanyeol is enjoying this way more than Baekhyun would’ve ever expected, but he knows which fights to pick and which to let go instead. He bites his bottom lip to suppress a smile that is way, _way more_ carefree than he originally wanted to show. 

“Then it’s ok, I’ll know soon anyway.” He says, going back to sit comfortably. “And I’ll be actually surprised for once.” 

Chanyeol remembered his birthday, contrary to the expectations. “I always surprise you, I’m a good friend.” Chanyeol remembered his birthday _and_ is trying to surprise him. Baekhyun puts all the effort he can into not smiling wider, he really doesn’t want to blow his cover, but his lips will eventually fall if he keeps biting on them. 

“I’m not surprised, you suck at surprises Park Chanyeol.”

“You do, Yeol.” His mom intervenes, stopping at the traffic light and throwing a glance towards the backseat through the rearview mirror. Baekhyun doesn’t directly look at Chanyeol, but he’s pretty sure the other is pouting. He often does that, when his mom seems to like Baekhyun more than she likes him.

“Mom. You always take Baekhyun’s side.” And there it is. Baekhyun shakes his head. The first time he’d heard this conversation he panicked, and he’d been really close to rushing to Chanyeol to reassure him or, well, do something. Now he’s gotten used to it, and he just waits for the usual.

“He’s cuter.” 

He flicks his head to the side, his lips are still curled up in a smile as he tries to recognize view from outside. It’s nothing he’s ever seen, so they’ve never taken him here. Chanyeol doesn’t reply immediately, but he mutters something through his teeth as he rummages into his bag for something.

He offers Baekhyun one of his useless earbuds which the hybrid obviously can’t use, but they’ve done this countless times, so Baekhyun knows how close to his ear he needs the earbud to be for him to listen to the same music Chanyeol is listening to. On the other hand Chanyeol turns up the volume a bit, but not that much, so that Baekhyun can hear properly without the the music bothering him for being too loud.

“I’ll buy hybrid friendly ones some day.” He says, as he rests his head on the car window and closes his eyes. Baekhyun stares for a couple of seconds and fights the urge to shift, just so that he can lie down and properly take a nap. 

 

It’s not a long ride, but Baekhyun tends to fall asleep easily on public transports or in the car despite him being a dog -and dogs not being exactly at ease inside moving metal boxes. He dozes off before he can realize what’s happening, and when he jolts awake it’s because someone has opened the car door and is pulling it out of the cabin. Like, literally, from his leg.

He whimper instinctively, mostly because he’s shocked and it takes always a few minutes before Baekhyun processes who he is after he wakes up from a nap. Naps are lethal more than actual sleep is. Which is why going from very happy to very grumpy is extremely easy to him, now that his butt hits the ground -the sand?- without too many compliments. 

“BIRTHDAY BOY!” It’s Jongdae. Jongdae is loud, as usual, Baekhyun flinches. 

Chanyeol and Jongdae are so loud, always: at home, in front of the hybrid school and now in front of Chanyeol’s car, with a very groggy Baekhyun on the ground. Today it’s only Jongdae, though, Chanyeol is somewhere in the background, he can hear his laughter.

He blinks a couple of times before he can finally get what’s going on. He’s still kind of taken aback when Seulgi and Sehun help him up. 

“Happy birthday Baekhyun.” Seulgi smiles at him, her black sleek tail is curled around Sehun’s leg, as the cat hybrid goes stand next to her and waves to Baekhyun too. “Yep. Why didn’t you check your texts? Jongin and I sent a few and you never replied.”

He bites his bottom lip, searches Chanyeol with his eyes. “I went to sleep early. Jongdae you’re an asshole, why did you have to do that while I was sleeping?”

“I love you too.” Jongdae grins, not even a bit apologetic and Seulgi disentangles herself from Sehun to hit Jongdae lightly on his arm. “Asshole..” Baekhyun grimaces, rubbing his butt distractedly as he just now realizes where they are. 

Chanyeol’s mom has stopped the car on the closest path to the sea, and there’s sand already mixing with gravel as the road melts into the beach. It’s just a cove, really, a strip of white sand close to the countryside. It’s not as clear as those pictures of her honeymoon in the Caribbean that Chanyeol’s mom has shown him, but Baekhyun doesn’t actually care.

The air is thick with salt and there’s enough wind for it to be annoying almost -it’s already making Baekhyun’s hair a mess. He keeps a straight face when he glances at Chanyeol who’s grinning, his smile going from ear to ear, his face looks like it’s gonna explode if the grin gets any bigger than that.

He turns his back to fully take in the view, before he hears Jongdae muffle a laugh and he realizes that he’s happy and it’s showing, a bit too much. 

“So, how do we do this?” He asks. Chanyeol’s mom is helping her son unload the car, and soon Baekhyun is following, picking up a couple of bags.   
“You guys shift and have fun, we organize the rest. But it’s your birthday, Hyun, you do you.” Chanyeol shrugs, and he pulls one of the straps of his backpack over his shoulder. Only after waving his hand to an approaching Kyungsoo and hybrid Jongin, he closes the trunk and stops to talk to his mom.

“Was he able to keep the surprise factor for awhile at least?” Kyungsoo inquires, as he closes the distance between him and Sehun, even though Jongin never leaves his side. 

“Just until this morning. Then Yoora rat him out.” Baekhyun explains. There’s a general laugh, even Seulgi joins. Although she isn’t the most constant presence in their group, she doesn’t seem uncomfortable. Jongdae is holding her pinky, Baekhyun finds himself thinking they’re cute. 

 

Chanyeol mom leaves after a few minutes, they all bow to her before the car drives off. 

The beach is not crowded. There’s only a family having a picnic and a couple that seems to be leaving. Seagulls screeching, the sea is calm and the waves are sloshing lazily on the shore with a slow but steady relaxing swoosh. 

“You _are_ surprised aren’t you?” Sehun asks elbowing Baekhyun as they put down the bags and Baekhyun realizes they all have something prepared, food, clothes, Jongdae even has a huge towel _just in case_ he says.

“Mh, just a bit I guess?” He says, with a flick of his shoulders. Sehun doesn’t buy it though, and looks at him like he’s just said the most idiotic thing ever. He doesn’t comment though. “You are a big fat liar Byun Baekhyun, but you’re also funny, which is why we all like you.”

“And why we came all the way here. Kyungsoo made us take the bus, his mom couldn’t take us.” Baekhyun doesn’t know what to say, so he pretends to be busy spreading a mat on the floor as an excuse.

“It was nice of you to come.” He says with a tentative smile, it’s almost shy.

Chanyeol comes next to him when he needs to shift, mostly to help him in case he gets stuck with the clothes. It’s completely unnecessary, really, but it is really cute to see how Jongdae has the towel around Seulgi’s body so that she can get rid of the clothes and shift. 

She’s taking more time than expected, apparently, because Jongdae kisses her on the nose and she goes redder than an apple. She shifts immediately after that, and it’s a panther cub that comes out of the towel curtain, biting playfully at Jongdae’s ankle.

Sehun is the cutest of them all because he prefers to shift on one of the mats. He takes off his shirt before his features start to change, but he ends up staying there and curling up even as a kitten. Jongin joins him, pulls at his tail with his teeth, even growls a bit. Sehun lets himself be convinced, and soon enough he’s following Jongin on the sand, towards the water.

“So, what are you waiting for?” Chanyeol pokes Baekhyun’s hip with a finger.

 

Shifting doesn’t require much concentration, it’s just knowing where you are and how your body feels, and then it’s the turning of a page. Not difficult at all, unless Baekhyun is having one of those _no_ moments in which changing from human to dog takes a lot more effort than usual. Today, luckily, is not one of those days.

He runs off in the sand only after a few seconds. If he can hide what he feels in human form, in hybrid form he has no luck with that. 

He yips, following Jongin and Sehun near the water’s edge and he leaps at a small wave, the feeling of water on his fur mildly uncomfortable because ew, wet. Sehun is on him in a second, pawing at his side. He jumps on him and then over him, and he finally wanders off like Sehun often does when he’s in cat form. His span of attention doesn’t last more than a couple of seconds.

When Baekhyun turns back towards where he came from, tongue tangling and tail whipping, he sees Chanyeol with a camera and a bottle of coke and barks, or at least he tries since his bark sounds a lot less powerful than Jongin’s one, which comes soon after. 

 

_Click!_

 

Chanyeol keeps taking pictures even when Baekhyun starts hopping in the sand to reach him. It’s a mess, he can feel the sand everywhere on his fur and it’s a weird sensation but at the same time it’s a lot of fun to run and see how the sand flares when he jumps a bit more wildly.

Chanyeol crouches, takes a few more pictures -Baekhyun can distinctively hear the click- with one hand only as his hand strokes Baekhyun’s back first, then he catches the corgi’s head in his palm and moves it left and right just to annoy him. Baekhyun growls, Chanyeol laughs instead. “Why don’t you try the water?” 

He asks and lets go, but keeps playing with Baekhyun’s snout. The corgi licks his fingers, nibs at them. Jongin is next to him in a second, he sniffles Chanyeol’s hands then he barks once and rolls in the sand.

“What are you guys doing here, huh? The fun is over there!” Despite saying that, Chanyeol takes a hold of Baekhyun’s body and applies just enough force to make him flop onto his side side, on the sand. Jongin butts in and licks the side of Baekhyun’s face, as Chanyeol half tickles, half rubs his belly. Baekhyun squirms, tries to roll back, but he’s happy with the attention. He yelps when Chanyeol catches one of his paws. And bites his hand playfully after he grabs his snout again.

He pats his butt as he helps him stand on his legs and that’s when Baekhyun barks again, glaring at him. Chanyeol has been doing that too much lately, and Baekhyun is half convinced that before he realizes Chanyeol will start patting his butt when he’s a human too.

Water is..wet. Baekhyun has tried showering -especially that one day when he accidentally turned it on, but never the real sea. He barks instinctively at it when the waves wash over his paws. Then he stands on his hind legs for a second and ends up falling on the side, water splashing everywhere.

Kyungsoo has joined Jongin in the water wearing a t-shirt and black bermuda shorts, the korean jindo happily paddling around him in circles. Chanyeol is a bit less smart on that front, he throws himself in the water with jeans and hoodie, creating a giant wave that hovers over both Baekhyun and poor Seulgi that was barely standing on the edge of the water pulling at the hem of Jongdae’s jeans.

“Park Chanyeol what the hell!” Jongdae complains, Kyungsoo laughs in response. 

“Chanyeol I hope you have spare clothes because it’s gonna take like ten years for those to dry.” He says as he throws a plastic orangey ball somewhere further down in the water and Jongin dives to catch it.

“Of course I have.. Kind of. Shit, no spare knickers though.” He realizes, but doesn’t seems that worried. “Hyun-ah come here!” Chanyeol yells and Baekhyun does, hesitantly. Chanyeol rushes over to help, salt water dripping down his face because the idiot has gotten that wet as well.

Chanyeol keeps him in the water as Baekhyun starts following what Jongin was doing, as in paddling like a duckling. He feels extremely stupid. “You’re doing great Hyun!” Chanyeol at least is keeping it fun. He lifts him just above the water level and Baekhyun is still there working his legs before he realizes he’s not in the water anymore. 

“I believe i can flyyyy” Chanyeol sings, he rocks him back and forth a couple of times.

Baekhyun groans, stops moving and even tries to free himself from Chanyeol’s grip. They do kinda swim together like Kyungsoo and Jongin -bless Kyungsoo who doesn’t tease Jongin while he’s swimming around. Baekhyun gets tired quite early though, so he ends up climbing over Chanyeol’s shoulder and relaxing there for awhile, Chanyeol holding him up.

 

He dries him off with a towel when they get back to the mats, which is a good excuse to make Baekhyun sprawl on his lap and tickle him again while he’s the most vulnerable -because who would complain about napping on Chanyeol’s lap under the sun. The human gives up the tickling after a while, being content in pulling Baekhyun’s paws every now and then, as he feeds him small pieces of the cupcakes his mom has made for them.

“I heard Jaehwan was showing off pictures of his iguana hybrid wearing a Chopper hat.” Jongdae says as he fits an annoyed Seulgi into his baseball hat. He then proceeds to hold her in both hands like that scene from the Lion King.

“Why have I never I thought about hats?” Chanyeol looks down at Baekhyun on the verge of dozing off again. “What do you say Hyun?” 

Hyun groans, rolls over and sneaks under Chanyeol’s hoodie. “Not a good idea huh?”   
Kyungsoo has given his own bucket hat to Jongin, who’s turned back into a human and is wearing nothing but boxers. He’s is drinking in all the sun he can get, lying down next to his owner, Sehun in kitty form curled up on his belly. They look like a small family.

“Honestly Wonsik in that police dog outfit was the best thing ever. Where do they even find those hybrid friendly clothes anyway, they were way too detailed to be the ones you find in normal shops..” Kyungsoo laughs, as he takes a sip of coke. 

“That was unexpected, I didn’t think you’d find it funny.” Jongdae notices, and he lets Seulgi literally assault the hat with her claws and fangs.

Jongin raises a hand, he doesn’t even open his eyes. “Try it on Sehun I’m not wearing any. Sorry.”

Baekhyun keeps peeping from underneath the hem of Chanyeol’s hoodie as the human plays distractedly with his tail. He hates that, but he doesn’t shimmy away. 

Sehun doesn’t like Jongin’s response, he moves to nap right on his face in revenge. 

 

Chanyeol plays some music with his phone, Jongdae convinces him to learn how to play the guitar, that they should practice together. It’s a fun afternoon. Sehun and Baekhyun leave for a run along the edge of the water following after Chanyeol and the tennis ball he throws too far for them to actually catch up.

Baekhyun always gets the ball before Sehun anyway, and he keeps biting and playing with it until he flops on the ground and it’s Sehun’s turn to snatch it from him.

Kyungsoo and Jongin disappear for a while, they come back with popsicles and ice-creams for everyone. Chanyeol takes the mini chocolate ice-cream tub for him and Baekhyun, and lets the corgi lap at the spoon while Jongdae helps Seulgi with her mango sorbet.

Baekhyun falls asleep inside the pan they’d used for the sandwiches. Chanyeol takes polaroids of that and keeps teasing him about it for the whole day.

They don’t shift back until the sunset, and now everyone ends up using that huge towel that Jongdae has brought along to cover themselves as they shift and get dressed, not to scandalize Seulgi too much. 

They don’t even try to start a small fire, mostly because Kyungsoo convinces them it’s the worst idea ever -he doesn’t trust Chanyeol with matches. Chanyeol seems hurt after that, Baekhyun just find it funny, since he’s getting his revenge for the polaroids he can’t burn now.

 

“Baekhyun, your gift. From Jongdae and I.” Seulgi starts the birthdays gifts ritual. Baekhyun is confused at first, then he’s blushing -the reddish hue reaching his neck- as he accepts the small box and opens it fumbling with the ribbon around it.

He raises an eyebrow at the content, Seulgi giggles and Jongdae bursts out laughing as he hugs her from the side.The general laugh infects everyone, even Chanyeol, as he inspects the studded dog collar with a stupidly amused expression.

“Wanna try it Hyun?”

“Nope. No thanks. More gifts?”

Kyungsoo, Sehun and Jongin have bought him an Adidas corgi outfit that looks strikingly similar to what Chanyeol usually wears. It’s cute. He promises to wear it.

“I’d never wear that.” Jongin needs to specify. “I wanted to buy you some comics but they insisted with that. So we got it.”

“Together with that special edition comic that you were looking for.” Sehun adds, giving him another slim packet. It’s a Spiderman comic, an issue that is quite rare to find in comic book stores. It’s a Fantastic Four crossover, and Baekhyun has been on the hunt for a while until today. 

If Baekhyun could explode with happiness right now, he would. It’s his birthday, and they’ve gotten him his favorite comic -a rare edition too!- and even though he doesn’t really know what to do with Jongdae’s gift, everything is way better than he’d expected it. 

They sing happy birthday and make him blow the candles on his cake -chocolate and cream, it’s a miracle that it’s still edible after a day in the sun. Everything gets just a bit hurried, since the sun is gone and soon it will be too dark to stay on the beach without some sort of light source.

“Chanyeol’s gift?” Sehun asks, as they eat the cake lazily. Luckily there’s a family who’s joined them on the beach, not too far. They’ve come equipped with lights that they’ve connected to their car, which is good for Baekhyun and the others because they can reassure their parents that they can come to pick them up a bit later.

“Oh, right. I almost forgot about it.” Chanyeol says, and he digs into his bag for a good couple of minutes before coming out with a small piece of paper with something scribbled on it. He hands it to Baekhyun, then ruffles up his hair. Baekhyun shakes his head until his hair are back to normal and one if his ears folds.

“Did you just give him a receipt Yeol?” Sehun insists, and he rests his head over Baekhyun’s shoulder to take a better look.

It does look like a receipt, but it’s just a piece of cardboard where Chanyeol has scribbled something with his horrible handwriting 

 

_Birthday Coupon.  
Can only be used once. For Byun Baekhyun’s exclusive use._

_Ask me anything._

 

“Anything?” Baekhyun tilts his head a bit so that Chanyeol enters his field of view.  
“Anything.” He confirms.

“You are one stingy shit Chanyeol, you know?” Jongdae says, and he snatches the coupon to examine it. “What’s this? You should’ve bought him a real gift, it’s his first birthday with you. What the fuck?”

“But he can ask whatever he wants. I don’t want to buy something he doesn’t need.” Chanyeol justifies himself, but he’s not looking at Baekhyun until he’s done talking and he realizes that even Kyungsoo is giving him the judging look. 

“That’s just a piece of paper Yeol..” Sehun adds. Chanyeol seems mortified when he finally meets Baekhyun’s eyes. 

The corgi hybrid hasn’t said anything yet. “I’m going to buy you a real gift and give it to you tomorrow, I promise. I just..”

“I like it though.” Baekhyun says much to everyone’s surprise, shrugging.

“You like it?” It’s a general question by all of them, Baekhyun nods. 

He likes it, mostly because Chanyeol gives him gifts quite often, and he does nag his mom until she gets Baekhyun whatever he wants or needs. He goes to the extent of giving Baekhyun the gifts his dad gives him, so Baekhyun really doesn’t know why he should be upset about the coupon. It’s fun. Plus Chanyeol said _anything_

“And you’re gonna suffer from dire consequences if you don’t do what I say, right?”

“Cross my heart and hope to die.” He says, and he does still look mortified, but Baekhyun goes up to only half-awkwardly hug him and Chanyeol chuckles.

“Still think it’s a shitty gift.” Sehun mutters under his breath. 

“That’s what everyone is thinking.” Jongin whispers in response. Baekhyun laughs, and they all shake their heads at Chanyeol in disapproval.

 

They end up staying a bit longer before they start gathering all of their belongings ready to hop back into their parents’ cars. Baekhyun is still playing with the coupon as they drive back, and he opens the back of his Nokia phone to stick the small card between the case and the battery.

It’s night outside already, soon it’s going to be May 6th. His birthday comes to an end, and Baekhyun is not sure about what to do with all these emotions flurrying into him like crazy fireflies in a jar.

“Was it a good birthday Baekhyun?” Chanyeol’s mom asks. She’s always kind, and she smiles even now turning her head to look at both of them.

He nods, and he gets a bit closer to Chanyeol as a silent _thank you_. Baekhyun despises how his hybrid half wants him to wear his heart on his sleeve and pour his emotions and feelings out for the world to see. He hates it, and he tries hard not to expect too much and show the smallest amount of feelings he can. He can’t help but smile, happy and relaxed as Chanyeol’s hands distractedly rubs the point of his ears between index and thumb.

“Yeah, it was.” He replies, without hesitation.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Best appreciated if read while listening to this. [cliq!](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E9H933ttaYo)


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Of family problems and broken friendship.
> 
> Best appreciated if read listening to this. [cliq!](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DQMbHNofCzw)

Chanyeol is in a bad mood, constantly.

It starts after his father drags him to spend a weekend at his place three hours from home, without much explanation other than ‘bonding time’. When Chanyeol comes back he locks himself in his room and only comes out a few hours later to yell at Yoora for calling him and at his mom soon after because ‘he’s not hungry’.

Chanyeol is always a bit on the grumpy side when things don’t go as planned, but nothing that a good old ice cream and a couple of hours playing D&D couldn’t fix. Sometimes it’s Baekhyun calling Jongdae and Kyungsoo over, mostly to make Chanyeol’s mood improve. Sometimes it’s the other way around, when Baekhyun is grumpy and doesn’t want to talk to anyone. 

This time, though, feels different because Chanyeol is not grumpy, he’s right out angry.  
Baekhyun doesn’t try to talk to him at first, he stays in his hybrid form at the bottom at the stairs and tries to go up with him when Chanyeol rushes out of the kitchen, furious for no apparent reason.

He whines once, and almost winces when Chanyeol stops, and glares at him.

“Hyun just .. I want to be alone, ok?” He tries to soften his stance, his voice lowered a little. Baekhyun can see it in the way his shoulders slouch. He can’t do much, he just tilts his head, confused. He almost readies himself to shift so he can actually speak and maybe smack Chanyeol on the head, but the other doesn’t give him much time.

The door to his room closes with a bang, and Baekhyun is left behind it. He scratches at it a couple of times, then he gives up after Chanyeol’s muffled ‘Go away’ coming from inside.

“What’s up with him?” It’s the first thing that Baekhyun asks as he sits at the kitchen table with a borrowed pair of sweats and a plain t-shirt. He’s tried to deal with this feeling of uneasiness for the last couple of hours and resorted to a shower in the end, with very little results.

It’s evening and Chanyeol has -again- told everyone he’s not coming downstairs for dinner.  
The kitchen is usually Chanyeol’s favorite place in the house, because of the food and the generally light atmosphere that he links to it. Today, though, Baekhyun can only notice how empty the house feels with Chanyeol playing the hermit locked up in his room.

“I have no idea. I called his father, he doesn’t know what to say either, just that Chanyeol was really quiet when he was there and he thought something happened with you.” 

His mom says, and it sounds more like an inquiry as she’s looking at him from behind a pair of spectacles. She’s pretty. The spitting image of Yoora, and it’s obvious she’s had her son and daughter way too young for her own sake, considering the divorce and everything. She cooks well and she’s kind, though, so Baekhyun can’t really complain, nor does he understand where all of Chanyeol’s anger comes from.

“Me? No, not really. I thought he was pissed at his dad.” He says, and he is kind of upset because he could know what’s going on, if only Chanyeol would talk to him.

“Mom, he’s just going through the whole I’m a gloomy teenager phase, he’ll come around eventually.” Yoora butts in, lifting her nose from the school book she’s been carrying around the whole day. “I should be the one in a bad mood, he can take my tests if he wants.”

“But I don’t want him to be in a bad mood constantly..” Mrs Lee sighs, as she plays with the bottle of nailpolish she’s been painting her nails with, after doing the dishes. “He’s such a bright kid, I don’t want him to feel like that. He obviously doesn’t like it either.”

“We don’t even know what he’s angry about mom.” 

“Should I try to talk to him? Or have Jongdae and Kyungsoo try?” Baekhyun asks, his head propped on his forearms folded on the table. “Unless they know what’s happening already.”

“Probably, but maybe we should leave it for a couple of days and see if he can solve it on his own. I don’t want him to think that we’re trying to control him.” Mrs Lee concludes, throwing a glance to the foyer, a glimpse of the stairs on the right.

“I bet dad has told him something awful as usual.” Yoora tries again, and Baekhyun knows she’s not her dad’s number 1 fan, but he didn’t expected her to take her brother’s side either. He stares at her for a moment, surprised, and she raises an eyebrow. “What? Dad’s always awful when it comes to you, no wonder Yeol gets angry.”

“He’s never been _this_ angry though..” Baekhyun retorts, and he didn’t expect his tone to sound this down, but doesn’t care.

Baekhyun calls Jongdae and Kyungsoo three days after Chanyeol has been ignoring everyone. Apparently, he’s been avoiding them as well, hanging out with Jaehwan and Hongbin mostly -which doesn’t make any sense, considering how much Baekhyun has ranted about their hybrids and how much Chanyeol dislikes them.

They meet in the park not too far from their houses, Chanyeol doesn’t ask where Baekhyun is going nor he tries to follow him. The playground is not that crowded when they get there, just a couple of younger kids with their hybrid puppies and a few older men smoking.

“What has his dad done this time?” Kyungsoo starts, looking as serious as ever. For once he’s not texting while talking to them, and that’s a sign that he’s as concerned as Baekhyun is.

“Oh, so you also think it was his dad’s fault..” Baekhyun starts, leaning against the backrest of the bench. “That’s what Yoora and I have been saying, but he’s not talking to us as well, and that’s weird, isn’t it?” 

He waits, and Kyungsoo starts nodding first, followed by Jongdae. “He usually complains about how much of a jerk his dad is and he’s fine soon after.”

“I don’t know, this time he really didn’t want to go apparently.”

Kyungsoo shrugs, and Baekhyun nods first, then shakes his head. “But there must be something wrong, he didn’t even fight with his mom before all of this.”

“Have you tried talking to him at least?” 

“You think I haven’t, ‘Dae? I’ve been trying to catch him in the most unlikely of places.” Baekhyun puffs out a frustrated breath. “It’s annoying. He shoved me out of his room. I even whined a lot. I never whine, he knows I’m seriously depressed when I do that but he ignored me.” 

Baekhyun is almost sure he should thank his hybrid part for making him feel all of this drama, but then Kyungsoo talks again and Jongdae curls his lips in a brooding pout.

“Well he’s been ignoring me when I try to talk to him as well, ‘Dae. And Sehun says he’s not replying to his messages. Sehun was pretty angry about that, I tell you.”

“I don’t know, it just seems so not Chanyeol to be really angry.” Jongdae says, with a shrug. “It’ll probably be fine in a couple of days, but..”

“That’s what I’m trying to say here. He’s often quite grumpy, but never this angry, to the point where he’s ignoring us.” 

“Are you sure you’ve not said anything wrong..? It’s..weird..” Kyungsoo stands up, he stretches his limbs and protects Jongdae and Baekhyun from the blinding setting sun behind him.

“I haven’t.” Baekhyun shoots back. “Have you?”

“Nope.” Jongdae replies on Kyungsoo’s behalf. “We were perfectly fine before he left. Then he came back and wouldn’t talk to us. We’re just as confused as you are.”

“We should try and talk to him, like, together or something.” Kyungsoo proposes, and it sounds like a good idea, except for the fact that Baekhyun is not that sure it is, considering Chanyeol’s reaction to his own attempts of talking aka shoving him out of the room or telling him to _go to hell_.

“If we manage to, he’s .. just weird. I think it will fuck everything up and he’s going to really be angry at us at that point.”

“Worth trying though, isn’t it? I’ll bring Sehun along, he has a soft spot for him.”

It still doesn’t sound like the best idea ever, but Baekhyun is tired of being the only one trying, so at least he won’t be shoved out of the room alone this time.

They wait until D&D night for the final confrontation with Chanyeol, using role playing as the best way to distract him. They wait until they’re done with the usual 4 hours long session to talk to him, which means that by the time Kyungsoo is putting their dices and character sheets away, everyone has started staring at Chanyeol first, then Baekhyun, as if expecting him to do something.

Baekhyun, on the other hand, has almost forgotten about _the talk_. He’s been taking advantage of Chanyeol’s unexpected calm the whole morning, and no matter how many times Jongdae has nagged him to shift, he’s stayed a corgi throughout the game and he’s still there, even when Kyungsoo clears his throat, catching Chanyeol’s attention as well as everyone else’s.

Baekhyun almost barks in protest and Chanyeol looks down at him, his lips curl up in a smile. It’s a weak one, but it’s definitely a smile. 

“Sorry, belly rubs for you.” He says, and that’s all Baekhyun needs to hear. His tail starts wiggling along with his butt, and Chanyeol chuckles, his palms groping it a couple of times, before playing with the poofy tail. “No belly rubs then?”

Baekhyun whines, low and in disapproval, sinking his teeth into Chanyeol’s fingers when he reaches to boop on his nose. Baekhyun doesn’t necessarily like it when he touches his butt too much, but Chanyeol has been in a bad mood for a few days already, and if this is all the attention Baekhyun is going to get, then he won’t complain.

In the end Chanyeol resorts to rubbing his fingers up and down Baekhyun’s tummy once again, the corgi still splayed out on his lap. His leg twitches a bit when Chanyeol pinches the jelly beans under his paws but Baekhyun is too far gone to care at this point.

“Yeol we were wondering..” Kyungsoo starts. It takes a few seconds for Baekhyun to process what’s going to happen, he freezes, going rigid.

“Yeah..?” Chanyeol looks up, meeting Kyungsoo’s eyes, his fingers still tracing and combing Baekhyun’s white fur -which would be relaxing, really, if it wasn’t for the words that Kyungsoo spits out after.

“Why are you mad at us? What’s going on?” 

As promised Kyungsoo has brought Sehun along, and Baekhyun can only hear him purr somewhere close, probably bushing himself against Chanyeol’s ankle as usual.

“I’m..not mad at you?” Chanyeol’s tone is confused at first, then it turns into something akin to realization, as Kyungsoo opens his mouth but Jongdae butts in, his fingers closing around the plastic transparent container for his dices.

“Look, you’ve been avoiding us for a few days.” He says, and he pauses to check for Chanyeol’s reaction. Baekhyun is panicking already, he rolls on all four, his balance a bit wobbly on Chanyeol’s lap, as the human hands instinctively keep him in place. Jongdae goes on. “You haven’t talked to us at all before today, what do you call that?” He stops once again, Baekhyun can distinctly see Chanyeol’s shoulders go stiff. “I’m not sure what we’ve done to you, but it sucks to see you like this.” 

Chanyeol gently puts Baekhyun down, and he’s really conflicted whether to concentrate and turn back into a human, or to wait and see where this is going. 

“You haven’t..where does this come from?” Chanyeol stands up, and Sehun moves a couple of steps back, until he’s next to Baekhyun, eyeing him with an interrogative expression. In the meanwhile, Chanyeol explodes, but his reactions seem to go up and down, from frustrated to angry.

“Has my mom put you up for this bullshit? I’m not mad at you guys, I wasn’t avoiding you. I’m just having a really shitty moment and it would be nice if any of you could just see it, embrace it and move on.” He pauses, his eyes going from Jongdae to Kyungsoo, back to Jongdae and then to the ceiling, annoyed. “But no, you have to ask questions. You want happy Yeol all the time. Guess what? I’m not happy.”

It’s a real slap in the face. Baekhyun wasn’t expecting Chanyeol to be joyful and merry, especially not after three days of staring at a closed door, but knowing how he’s feeling makes it a lot more difficult to deal with. He whines, moving a couple of steps towards Chanyeol, then he scans the room, looking for some of his clothes scattered on the bed.

“Nobody’s asking you to pretend Chanyeol..” Jongdae pleads. He’s sitting at the table that they use for their Dungeons & Dragons session, fingers tapping on the surface.

“Yes you are. All of you.”  
Chanyeol insists. It almost sounds childish, and Baekhyun doesn’t want to be angry at him, but he is a bit pissed at this point. The others seem to be getting to the same level of annoyed as he is.

“No, we’re worried.” Kyungsoo says, Chanyeol’s expression drops. “It’s different. Baekhyun is miserable because you’re not talking to him, your mom doesn’t know what to do. If this is some rebel phase you’re going through please enlighten us, because you’ve been acting really douchebaggy, just so you know.” 

Baekhyun feels more than seeing Chanyeol’s eyes on him, and he meets them, as the other looks like he’s been betrayed.

“What the hell, you asked them to talk to me?” Baekhyun steps back, his tail is too short to reach between his legs, but it’s flat against his bum as his hybrid half forces his body to shake a bit, more because of the tone Chanyeol uses than the actual influence it has on Baekhyun. 

In reality his human self is as much angry as Chanyeol is, right now.

“Baekhyun hasn’t asked..” Jongdae starts, as Sehun meows, his tail swishing in the air, restless. If Baekhyun’s instinct to shift is so strong, given the atmosphere, he can only imagine how strong it must be for Sehun right now. 

Chanyeol completely ignores Jongdae, he closes the distance between him and the corgi, he doesn’t do anything, luckily. The hybrid keeps his stance, looking up, a low growl in his throat. He’s never seriously growled at Chanyeol, never, it’s a first. And he can see how much Chanyeol seems to be affected by it. His face gets red, from neck to ears.

“What the hell Baekhyun? God I just want to be left alone for a while is that too much to ask?” He’s pretty much yelling now, too loud for Baekhyun’s liking also. “You guys are being.. Is that why you’ve brought Sehun?” His eyes dart to Kyungsoo, and he’s taken aback for a second. 

“You thought he would calm me down?” A light chuckle, but it’s a bitter one. “I’m sure Sehun works just fine with calming down anyone anyway.”

Baekhyun expects anything, probably Sehun shifting right there to tell Chanyeol off, or even staying in his hybrid form and hissing at him. He would do it himself, he would punch Chanyeol. If it wasn’t that Kyungsoo steps forward before Jongdae can even try to stop him, and Baekhyun can barely see the fist when Kyungsoo clenches it, and aims right at Chanyeol’s jaw. 

Chanyeol is slightly taller than Kyungsoo and usually fast in his reactions, but the noise that comes from knuckles hitting the bone is unmistakable.

He doesn’t react, and stares at Kyungsoo with teary eyes from the pain, his hand reaching for his aching jaw.

“Get a grip Chanyeol. You’re being disgusting. And leave my hybrid out of this, you’ve got enough going on with your own.” Kyungsoo says, as he visibly ignores the panging pain in the back of his hands as he scoops Sehun from under the table and quickly glances to Jongdae.

“We’re going.” He says, and he marches out of the basement.

Jongdae throws Baekhyun an apologetic look before following Kyungsoo outside, both of them walking past Chanyeol as he stands there in a daze. Baekhyun whines, hoping to get Chanyeol’s attention, hopefully to recognize something different to anger in his eyes. Chanyeol never meets his eyes though. He closes his, with a sigh, because his mom is calling him and _that_ would be the cherry on top.

Chanyeol walks upstairs without sparing Baekhyun a glance, his eyes cast down and knuckles white from how hard he's clenching his fists. It hurts. 

He shifts as soon as Chanyeol reaches the first floor, and starts fumbling with clothes that suddenly are too difficult to find, to put on. He stumbles while hopping on one leg trying to make the other fit in the leg hole of some sweats, and when he finally storms upstairs Chanyeol has already started yelling to his mom.

Baekhyun stops right in front of the entrance, staring at the rigid back of an angry fourteen years old Chanyeol as he smacks his hands on the table. The hybrid flinches at the noise, Chanyeol’s mom looks more confused than shocked.

“ _Nothing_ is wrong mom.” He says, putting emphasis on each word. Baekhyun doesn’t dare step into the kitchen, and it’s mainly Mrs Lee’s slight change in expression that stops him. There’s a hint of annoyance in her stance, before she starts speaking once again.

“Then, would you kindly explain why Kyungsoo and Jongdae didn’t have dinner here as usual? Did you guys fight?”

Chanyeol’s anger seems to falter for a moment. “I.. we didn’t fight..” He hesitates, and that’s when Baekhyun moves a tiny step inside. “Yeol..” He calls, and the other glances over his shoulder briefly. His mom sighs, shaking her head, Chanyeol’s attention goes back to her.

“Park Chanyeol, what’s going on?” Mrs Lee asks, her voice going up a bit, frustrated more than angry at this point. “I want to help, but I can’t if you keep everything for yourself, you know.” Baekhyun can see she’s trying to be understanding here, however there’s not much to do when Chanyeol seems to have turned into a ticking bomb, ready to explode.

“Why are you all so obsessed with helping?” He asks, but his voice stays low, posture still rigid. Baekhyun can’t see his face, but he’s pretty sure this is what real angry Chanyeol would sound like. “You did nothing. Dad came here, said I had to go with him, and you did nothing mom. You didn’t even ask if I actually wanted to go.”

Oh. So that’s what the issue was, and they’d been all right from the beginning, Chanyeol _does have a reason_ to be angry. Mrs Lee’s face falls, but she says nothing, mostly because Chanyeol doesn’t give her any time to formulate an answer. 

“And then I went to his house, and he’s suddenly saying I’m going to move there maybe, because you said it wasn’t a big deal. You mom, when did you ask me?” 

“Chanyeol wait, I think you misunderstood..” She reaches out, tries to touch his shoulder and Chanyeol recoils from the touch, as if she just burned him.

“I’m not..” He raises his voice enough to cover his mom’s. “I’m not a fucking parcel mom, I’m tired of being sent back and forth.” Baekhyun backs off a couple of steps, when Chanyeol does the same, putting some distance between him and Mrs Lee. “And you’re all so eager to help. I know how you can help, you can all leave me alone, that would be helpful.” 

He doesn’t even listen to his mom’s reply, even if she calls him a couple of times before giving up only to sit, hiding her face in her hands. Chanyeol storms out the kitchen and Baekhyun doesn’t hesitate to follow, as he always does. Baekhyun has learned when leaving Chanyeol alone would help and when it wouldn’t and today, especially, he’s sure he can’t just leave him be.

He walks just a tad fast than the other until he’s essentially preventing him from going upstairs. Chanyeol doesn’t look at him, not yet, but he mumbles something along the lines of _what do you want_.

“I think you need to talk to me.” He tries, but is taken aback at the snort that he gets in response. Chanyeol does look up now, and meets his eyes with an almost scornful glare.  
“Are you really telling me that now? After that stunt you guys just pulled?”

Baekhyun is ok with Chanyeol being angry. He’s ok with Chanyeol being sad, frustrated and whatever this rebel phase implies. However this is crossing the line.

“Why are you so angry at me! What have I done, huh?” He half hits Chanyeol on his shoulder with a punch, one that is not supposed to hurt that much, and he feels like shit immediately after, because Chanyeol just got punched by Kyungsoo, and it must hurt.  
“I was just trying to help, I refuse to apologize for that.” 

“That’s where the problem is, Hyun.” Chanyeol stares at Baekhyun and for a moment the hybrid is sure that he’s trying hard to look at him in the eyes properly, as if making a statement. “I don’t want your help and I don’t want to talk to you.”

It’s enough to make Baekhyun’s determination waver, but then what Chanyeol says soon after nails Baekhyun’s feet in place and forces him to stay still because his heart skips a bit, and not in a pleasant way.

“God, this is why I didn’t want a hybrid in the first place.”

“..what?” He says, his voice cracks and Chanyeol ignores him anyway, finally free to walk upstairs, his hand making a mess of his hair with a grimace on his face.

Baekhyun doesn’t sleep in Chanyeol’s room that night, nor the night after. And as much as he tries to convince himself that Chanyeol said that in the heat of the moment, he can’t shake off the impression that whatever they’d worked for in one year, Chanyeol destroyed in one sentence. 

They click just because Chanyeol _wants_ Baekhyun, because he’s glad he’s not only a hybrid he can play with, but he’s also a person he can trust, a friend that he can talk to. If that doesn’t matter anymore to him, then what’s Baekhyun doing here, exactly?

Baekhyun is also really good at pretending everything is fine, that’s he’s not hurt in the least. He avoids Chanyeol most of the time and spends most of it with Sehun, who is as bitter and as upset as he is, since Chanyeol managed to ruin two friendships in less than half an hour.

Kyungsoo is still outraged, and even if Chanyeol is not really looking for him and Jongdae at school nor outside, he’s refused to help him or pair up with him during gym class. Kyungsoo is usually not childish, but he’s giving his best to act like that, in order to spite Chanyeol, who seems not to be offended at all.

Baekhyun hears it from Hyuk and Wonsik, the same iguana and dobermann hybrid that had bullied and teased him non stop the year before, that Chanyeol has gotten closer to their owners compared to how it was in the past -which apparently was Chanyeol waiting for them to notice him somehow, even if Baekhyun can’t be sure about the truth behind this statement. It doesn’t necessarily surprise him, but it still stings to be replaced so easily.

Yoora and Mrs Lee have purposely decided to stay out of it, Yoora especially. She keeps jumping from Baekhyun to her brother whenever she gets the chance, ignoring Chanyeol’s nagging that he’s an adult and he doesn’t want to be bothered now. She plays with Baekhyun often, especially when he’s in hybrid form and he wants a cuddle. It’s not the same, but it can’t be helped.

Then Chanyeol’s fever comes, and things change.

Baekhyun senses something’s wrong as soon as he gets a whiff of Chanyeol’s scent when he comes back from school. He’s experienced a few seasonal colds, one ear infection and that one time when Chanyeol had sprained his ankle and had been bedridden for a week. It’s more than enough to just guess when Chanyeol is sick, and his suspicion is confirmed when he walks up on him taking some cold medicine, his mom checking the expiration date on the back of the box.

If it wasn’t that they’re still in cold-war terms, he would’ve asked something, but Baekhyun is proud and a sore loser, which means that he completely ignores Chanyeol’s eyes on him as he takes some juice from the fridge.

He keeps ignoring Chanyeol when, while watching tv, he complains about his head hurting, and pretends he’s not in the room when he falls asleep on the couch.

What he can’t ignore, though, is opening the bathroom door at three am only to find a shaking Chanyeol hugging the toilet. 

“Sorry, I think you’ll have to use the one downstairs..” He murmurs, as he rests his forehead on the toilet lid, letting out a breath.

“I heard some noise and I came to check.” Baekhyun crouches next to him and reaches for his neck, then his cheek. Chanyeol flinches with a shiver. “You’re running a fever.”

“Your hands are icicles Hyun..” Chanyeol forces a smile. “What the hell, take them off..” He curls on himself, hunching his shoulder until Baekhyun’s fingers are not in direct contact with his skin.

“Shut up. Are you done here?” Baekhyun glances at Chanyeol’s _aliens_ -his dinner- inside the toilet, he grimaces. “Ehw.” But he opens one of the cabinets under the sink to pull out a big towel, unfold it, and spread it as a makeshift cloak until Chanyeol is all bundled up.

“For now..I guess?” He pauses, flushes, and Baekhyun catches him staring for a moment, when he tightens the towel around his shoulders. “Thanks.”

“Let’s get you to bed then. C’mon.” He tries to get Chanyeol’s arm to circle his neck, so that he can get a good grip of his waist, but the other squirms, shaking his head. Baekhyun sighs, his head tilted to the side, his ears following the movement.

“It’s ok, I can manage.” Chanyeol mumbles, and he use his arms as leverage to stand up, only to grip at the wall not to fall ass flat on the ground once again.

“Yeah, wow, so graceful. Yeol, just listen would you?” A vein of exasperation in his voice. “I know you can manage, which is why I’m helping. Because you’re an idiot and you think you can do things on your own, and then you get sick.” He sounds terribly grown up, and he would flinch at his own words, if it wasn’t that Chanyeol finally loops an arm around his shoulder and leans on him. That leaves him oddly satisfied, no matter how much of an asshole Chanyeol has been to him, lately.

“C’mon.” He says, trying hard to keep the towel in place as they walk back to Chanyeol’s room. He flops on the bed, he’s still shaking under the blanket and his cheeks are on fire, it’s almost cute.

“Hyun, you’re all mad at me aren’t you?” 

Baekhyun stops under the door frame to look at him, because of all the things he thought he would hear from Chanyeol, that was the most unexpected. He smiles, but he can’t help but fake it a little. Chanyeol’s words still echo in his head, it’ll take a while for him to forgive.

“You kinda called it on yourself, don’t you think?” 

Chanyeol breathes in, deeply, then out. “I’m just..I don’t know why I’m just so angry, all the time.. I’m tired of being angry.” He sounds.. sad. And Baekhyun can handle angry Chanyeol just fine, but sad Chanyeol is a whole different thing. It tugs at his heartstrings, his tail reacts with a wiggle, and Baekhyun has to concentrate to make it stop.

“Just stop then. And apologize to Sehun, he’s really depressed about what you told him.” He says, as he picks up a bucket from inside the shower and a huge amount of toilet paper, just in case Chanyeol feels sick again.

“I’m sorry.” He hears him say, and Baekhyun sighs, and he half wishes the apology to be for him, even if it’s not. 

“Not to me, to him.” He points out. Sehun’s way more depressed than he is anyway, and it would be easier to mend that friendship. “I’m going to shift, alright?” His problems with Chanyeol are much more complicated than that.

He takes off his t-shirt first, hand me down from Chanyeol as almost all of his clothes are.

“What if you catch a cold too?” Chanyeol pokes his hip timidly, as he slides under the covers.

“I’ll be fine.” 

It doesn’t take a lot of effort to shift, but he ends up using it as an excuse. He doesn’t feel like talking to Chanyeol now, and he’s still resentful and upset. He doesn’t know how much it will take to be ok with Chanyeol still using _that_ as a weapon. He doesn’t know if he can look past the fact that Chanyeol used not wanting him as a way to hurt him, he doesn’t even know if Chanyeol realized what he did.

Baekhyun’s most definitely not happy, as he stumbles out of his sweats on the floor. He’s, glad, though, when Chanyeol picks him up to hold him against his chest as he lies down. Chanyeol’s fingers draw long strokes on his fur, he plays with his tail for a while.

He must be imagining it, as he gets more drowsy, but, at some point, he can almost feel Chanyeol’s lips somewhere on his head.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So here we come to the end of Pt.1 of this series. Thank you to all of the people who spared some time to read this and appreciated it. I know this fic is lacking in many aspects and I wasn't expecting much from it, but your response and your comments made me extremely happy.
> 
> As I said in the beginning, I'm going to post a pt.2 soon, which will talk about the boys' time in high school and what kind of issues they have to go through. Pt.1 didn't end exactly happily, I'm aware, and you're getting less corgi Baek and more human back as things develop. I'll try to balance that in the future, and hopefully I'll be able to write a small collection of drabbles about the adventures of puppy corgi Baek that are not linked to the plot.
> 
> Also, be ready for some _hot_ developments at some point!
> 
> Again, thank you so much for reading this, and see you again for pt.2!

**Author's Note:**

> As usual, you can find me on lj & AFF as @/aestaeticism and twitter as @roseygrid!


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